Japan tops world tourism ranking despite COVID restrictions

They have 7 tourists to prove it.

Perhaps one of the criteria to win was a lack of overcrowding of foreign tourists.

> Japan came out ranking highest on a list of destinations, despite the country being closed to foreign tourists due to restrictions against the coronavirus.

Then what’s the point?

That would be like making a list of best meats for a group of vegetarians.

Prior to the pandemic, Japan had been keen to boost tourism as a key pillar for economic growth and set a goal to attract 40 million foreign visitors in 2020 when it was originally scheduled to host the Olympic and Paralympic Games, which were postponed for a year due to the pandemic.

Cui bono? Who benefits from this tourism as a pillar of a country's economic prosperity ?

The hotel,inn and restaurant owners who were subsidized during the pandemic?

Or the staff who were suddenly laid off with no support and had to make the trek to Hello Work, hustle, retrain for different industries?

Not one single tourist was allowed into Japan in 2021. Irony not lost?

Japan's aging population, combined with its pension system, requires some sort of influx of tax revenues for the government to sustain its pension system. Those tourism dollars and associated sales taxes and hotel taxes were probably doing a solid job of ensuring the pension system doesn't go totally bankrupt.

If you're Western tourist who wants a bit of culture shock, but not worry about someone stealing your wallet or getting some sort of gastrointestinal issue, then Japan's a solid place to go.

It's safe, clean, trains are incredible. The issue is overcrowding and lack of English.

I went to Japan the first time in 1997. The lack of credit card acceptance and poor ATMs was demoralizing. Japan made a lot of necessary progress from 1997 - 2015 or so.

Top tourist destination but no tourist can go there although this is changing to allow supervised controlled groups . What world do the people who make such findings live in!

Why? Because people want to go where they are not allowed to go?

Kyo wa heiwa dayo neToday  10:20 am JST

Japan loves foreigners.

Its a highly evolved international community in Japan .

Everyone is welcome in Japan and equal rights for all.

I see what you did there.... See my username!

Japan scored high in the following divisions:

Safety and Security 6.1

Health and Hygiene 6.1

Ground and Port infrastructure 6.3

Cultural Resources 6.4

Non-Leisure Resources 6.3

https://www.weforum.org/reports/travel-and-tourism-development-index-2021/explore-the-data

there are still loads of shops that are cash only

The only place I regularly spend cash these days is the local supermarket. Everywhere else I use my credit card for larger purchases, Apple Pay for everyday stuff. Even my local mobile tofu man accepts payment by Apple watch.

Their ATMs are still horrendous with opening and closing hours and ridiculous fees for withdrawing money

Use the bank's own ATM instead of the one in the conbini, and there are no withdrawal fees.

You covet what you can't get

The world is full of violence, murder, hatred and filth. It is human nature to want to travel to a safe and clean country.

All are welcome! Time to get the Japanese tourism economy up and running again. Japan needs dollars!

lol this article.

@OssanAmerica

I tried to pay for my lunch several months ago and the shop’s card reader declined my transaction.

I could have asked them

to phone MasterCard the same way I did several years ago in a yakitori shop for a much bigger bill on a Visa card transaction but in Japan I won’t make a scene about something I can easily remedy; I paid in cash.

What an absurd piece!

A place to

visit for the many but not allowed in?

How comical…

Great post!

Agreed on everything!

Nail on the head, mate!

The infrastructure that Japan has to support tourism do not suddenly disappears just because the country is closed, so if that is part of the evaluated parameters it is understandable that it is still in high rankings.

Not hard to look after your tourists when you only have seven of them.

Many shops in Japan reject foreign credit cards -I am surprised when my cards are accepted, so much so that (just in case) I usually withdraw money from a combini at the beginning of a night out..

All this says is that Japan rated top as a destination that people (whoever were asked) "wanted" to go. The fact that there haven't been any tourists to speak of since Covid in clearly 2020 is not relevant. Besides, wanting to gp doesn't really mean anything if they "can't" or "won't" go.

Plastic sheets, masks, and many small business' and employees suffering aside, Japan was "inbound" crazy before 2020. There were so many tourists everywhere that travel within Japan wasn't enjoyable. And shops amd restauraunts became addicted to tourist income.

> Many shops in Japan reject foreign credit cards -I am surprised when my cards are accepted, so much so that (just in case) I usually withdraw money from a combini at the beginning of a night out..

Have never run into any shop that did not take Visa or Mastercard, whether issued from a Bank in Japan or Overseas. In the cities many also take AMEX, as well as Discover which collaborates with JCB. They may reject foreign bank debit cards unless it is linked to MC or Visa.

They have 7 tourists to prove it

Priceless！

The most ironic news ever!

That’s like having a poll where unicorns top the list for animals that people wish they could see at a zoo.

Not really =)

Someone was getting kickbacks for their vote.

Japan loves foreigners.

Its a highly evolved international community in Japan .

Everyone is welcome in Japan and equal rights for all.

I will testify to that.

Japan tops world tourism ranking despite COVID restrictions

Surely someone got their wires crossed. Ranked the top? A joke surely. Japan has taken advantage of the pandemic to go back to its Sakoku days and are currently parading around farces like "controlled tour groups", which from the picture on the article on this site, looks like Japanese actors playing "foreign" tourists, in order to look like they're playing ball with their international peers. Someone needs to recheck this rankings list.

I went to Japan the first time in 1997. The lack of credit card acceptance and poor ATMs was demoralizing.

Not much has changed on this front. Their ATMs are still horrendous with opening and closing hours and ridiculous fees for withdrawing money. Some still don't accept international cards and there are still loads of shops that are cash only.

If Japan wants to be more tourist friendly, they really need to address their "cash is king" mentality. This issue is another reason why the results of this poll is mindboggling - so many countries have gone cashless years ago. It's convenient and safe and you get used to the fast transactions at the checkout counters. Then you come to a place like Japan where you'd back to thumbing through banknotes and fisting handfuls of coins to count out exact change. Talk about a trip back in time.

Not much has changed on this front. Their ATMs are still horrendous with opening and closing hours and ridiculous fees for withdrawing money. Some still don't accept international cards and there are still loads of shops that are cash only.

If Japan wants to be more tourist friendly, they really need to address their "cash is king" mentality. This issue is another reason why the results of this poll is mindboggling - so many countries have gone cashless years ago. It's convenient and safe and you get used to the fast transactions at the checkout counters. Then you come to a place like Japan where you'd back to thumbing through banknotes and fisting handfuls of coins to count out exact change. Talk about a trip back in time.

Excellent Post! agree 100%!

We are the best, but kinda living in the past. Well last year to be fair…

I wonder how many of the people so desirous to come here are students promised two years ago they could come (and their money accepted then and there), expats who were not allowed back in for whatever reason yet, and the like.

Something is fishy about this article. I would rather go to Waikiki or Bali.

Japan loves foreigners.

Its a highly evolved international community in Japan .

Everyone is welcome in Japan and equal rights for all.

Nobody speaks English, earthquakes daily, radioactive food, complicated transport system, 50% squat toilets with no soap, sleeping on the floor in tourist hotels.

24hr cheap alcohol, friendly shy people, no “no go zones”, amazing architecture, interesting history, wonderful food, clean public transport, hardly any graffiti, no guns.

japan should be in the top 20. Not top.

Japan tops world tourism ranking despite COVID restrictions

Is this a joke?

Everyone is welcome in Japan and equal rights for all.

I will testify to that."

Lol. OK.

gintonic

I'll second that.