The government has set on boosting so-called “nohaku” farm stays to attract visitors, especially those from abroad, to rural villages as a key measure to revitalize local areas. The agriculture ministry and related ministries plan to largely increase budgetary allocations in line with the government’s tourism vision put together in spring. However, it is not easy to boost farm stays of foreign visitors who are not familiar with the Japanese language and culture. The rural community needs to work together to help visitors appreciate the Japanese countryside, and the government must come up with effective support measures.
The administration under Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has pledged to accelerate its Abenomics economic measures, but things do not seem to be working as the government promised. This is why the government is focusing on tourism as the pillar of economic growth strategy.
The number of foreign people visiting Japan has increased sharply in recent years along with the weakening yen. Helped also by visa deregulation for tourists from some Asian countries, the number came to nearly 20 million, 2.4 times more than three years before. The consumption of foreign visitors totaled some 3.5 trillion yen, roughly equivalent to the total amount of exports of auto parts, one of Japan’s major industries. Tourism has now become a money maker for Japan.
To take advantage of the current situation, the Prime Minister’s Office created an ambitious tourism vision in March with a target of doubling the number of foreign visitors to 40 million in 2020 when Tokyo hosts the Olympic and Paralympic Games, and to 60 million in 2030. If the country meets the target, it will become a country with the world’s fourth largest number of foreign visitors, exceeding China.
Nohaku has emerged as one of the key measures to boost tourism. In order to double or triple the number of foreign tourists, attracting them to metropolitan areas will not be sufficient, and the government is looking to boost tourism all over the country. The tourism vision sets a target of increasing the total number of foreign people’s stays in local areas to 70 million in 2020, up nearly 3 times from 2015, and to 130 million in 2030, up 5 times and exceeding the number of stays in metropolitan areas.
There are already not enough accommodations along the golden route for tourists, including Tokyo, Mount Fuji, Kyoto and Nara. Moreover, “bakugai” explosive shopping spree by Chinese tourists and the trend of the weakening yen appear to be calming down. As concerns are growing over the prospects of tourism boost, more people are focusing on rural regions to increase repeat visitors.
Now nohaku has become an important national policy, and a big wave will come to the countryside. In an effort to push tourism in rural villages, the agriculture ministry has made a budgetary request of 15 billion yen for subsidies to revitalize farming, fishing and mountainous villages, nearly double the amount from a year before. The ministry plans to select model nohaku districts to offer support for development of farm experience programs, providing multilanguage online information and renovating lodging facilities.
The tourism vision sets a target of setting up 50 such districts nationwide by 2020. Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, who is eager to make use of traditional Japanese-style houses, has even mentioned a target of 500 districts.
Boosting nohaku will surely be a good opportunity to revitalize rural regions. Foreign visitors will be attracted to the beautiful landscape, traditional food, culture and hospitality of the local people. They will enjoy different programs to experience farming during the stays.
At the same time, in order to make rural areas attractive places to visit and stay for foreign tourists, it is necessary for rural communities to work together under a good strategy. The government should also be serious about presenting truly effective support measures to facilitate tourism.