Amid the pandemic, inbound tourists have vanished from Hokkaido’s Niseko area, which has turned into an internationally popular resort. This is the first story in a series titled Niseko gears up for a post-COVID era, which examines how the local tourism industry, domestic and foreign developers and investors are preparing for the end of the pandemic.
Developers began construction of a new hotel in the Kutchan town’s Hirafu district, a central part of Hokkaido's Niseko resort, back in Aug. 17, when the prefecture was being hit by the fifth wave of the pandemic with daily cases topping 400.