’Ghost town’: Japan reopens borders, but visitors find short-staffed hotels and closed up shops

Japan fully reopens to tourists this week after two years of COVID-19 restrictions. However, shuttered shops and a shortage of hospitality workers threaten the country's hopes for a tourism boom.

From Tuesday, Japan will reinstate visa-free travel to dozens of countries, ending some of world's strictest border controls to slow the spread of COVID-19. 

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida is counting on tourism to help invigorate the economy and reap some benefits from the yen's slide to a 24-year low.

Just over half a million visitors have come to Japan so far in 2022, compared with a record 31.8 million in 2019. The government had a goal of 40 million in 2020 timed with the Summer Olympics until both were upended by the coronavirus.

Kishida said last week the government is aiming to attract 5 trillion yen (€34.5 billion) in annual tourist spending. But that goal may be too ambitious for a sector that has atrophied during the pandemic. 

Hotel employment slumped 22 per cent between 2019 and 2021, according to government data.

Spending from overseas visitors will reach only 2.1 trillion yen (€14.9b) by 2023 and won't exceed pre-COVID levels until 2025, wrote Nomura Research Institute economist Takahide Kiuchi in a report.

Flag carrier Japan Airlines Co has seen inbound bookings triple since the border easing announcement, president Yuji Akasaka said last week, according to the Nikkei newspaper. Even so, international travel demand won't fully recover until around 2025, he added.

Narita Airport, Japan's biggest international airport some 70 kilometres from Tokyo, remains eerily quiet, with about half of its 260 shops and restaurants shuttered.

"It's like half a ghost town," says 70-year old Maria Satherley from New Zealand, gesturing at the