Japan International Tourist Tax Revenue: Updated June 12, 2024.

 

Japan's tax revenue from international travelers likely triples in FY 2023

Article Source:  https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20240604/p2g/00m/0bu/001000c

Ideas:

Foreign tourists going to Japan, might be the one bright spot in the Japanese economy as it still seems to be stuck in a stagnation and or deflation situation.

At the same time, even though there are a lot of foreign tourists traveling to Japan, some local Japanese are beginning to think maybe there are now too many, as some, not all, don't follow the rules and or are rude about some things.

But again, its hard/easy to look past some of the misgivings of some not so good foreigners as foreign tourism might be the only bright spot in Japan at this time.

As the Japanese government is a big spending government, with a government debt to GDP the highest among advanced economies, Japan needs all the money it can get from foreign travelers, as it might help reduce the high government debt situation.

At the same time, as Japan become more and more of an aged society, the extra income from foreign tourists will help with the potential pension situation, which could be a challenge in the near future.

Foreign tourism can not be considered a significant economic driver meaning, it helps grow the economy while other significant drivers such as Japanese exports are faltering some at the present time, due to the Toyota group situation.

Over tourism seems to be a real and significant situation now in Japan, as many locals are beginning to voice their concerns about too many tourists and some, not all, not following the rules and or not be very polite.

Japan should look to some of the European countries such as France as to how they handle over tourism and see if Japan can benchmark anything that France does that might help them.

As before the pandemic, many Japanese service sector businesses became dependent on foreign tourism, as it hard to give up hard earned profits from tourists, but the same thing might be happening now too.

It seems, it\n another report/article, that Japan wants to increase foreign tourism even more, but what is the exact breaking point for how many tourists can Japan handle?

The Japanese government might want more foreign tourists to increase revenue, but what about the local population in the over crowded tourism areas?

I traveled to Japan in Feb. of 2022, just after Japan had opened and again in Jan. of 2023. During both trips, to Haneda in Tokyo there were like hundred of English speaking people to help you get through the immigration process.

And these were not Japanese helpers as many or most were Filipinos helpers who lived and worked in Japan. 

Again, as the weak Japanese yen is a boom for foreign tourists, most likely the Bank of Japan is going find ways to keep the Japanese yen as weak as possible, but at the same time try to help the domestic economy too.

And yes, not al Japanese municipalities are happy with the over crowding and the behavior of some foreign tourists, as they don't respect Japanese rules and or follow some Japanese customs, 

But this might be a global problem too, now, as other tourism areas are beginning to see some of the same challenges that Japan is experiencing.

I completely agree with the idea of the 2.5 meter high screen as foreign tourists were a completely out of control and not being polite and or causing too many traffic and control problems.

And then to find holes in the screen was totally wrong as tourists need to follow the rules in Japan, and if they don't Japan can find ways to curb their enthusiasm. 

There might be a day of reckoning in the future related to the behavior of rude and improper foreign tourists, and unfortunately the average polite foreign tourist might get caught up in it due to the negatives of some foreign tourists.

A special tax might be good and needed, but there needs to be more than that to curb the unruly enthusiasm of some foreign tourists in Japan.

There might be no resources for extra police or something like that in major populated tourism areas, just to curb the extra drinking or the throwing of too much trash on the ground by foreign tourists. 

There are many ideas that have been thrown around the tackle the situation, but again, not al foreign tourists cause problems, as always its a that cause problems everyone.

Have a nice day and be safe!