(Historic village in Hida-Takayama)
It is not secret that Japan is a surprising combination of peace and chaos, old and new and has just the right amount of anorak.
Inbound tourism continues to thrive as a record 28.7 million tourists visited Japan in 2017, up 19 percent from the previous year and apparently keeping the nation on track for the government’s target;40 million in 2020.
Challenges remain such as a tight supply of accommodations that cater to overseas guests and a heavy concentration of visitors from East Asia.
According to JNTO (Japan National Tourism Organization), the estimated number of international travelers to Japan in April reached to 2.9 million with an increase of 12.5% compared to the previous year, recording the best April ever. The estimated number of international travelers to Japan in 2018 reached to 10 million (+15.4% from 2017).
(Number of Inbound tourists by year)
(Inbound tourists by country in 2017)
That said, Hida-Takayama (飛騨高山）has become one of major tourist destinations among the foreign tourists
but it is not that popular destination for average Japanese.
I have recently read an interesting article about Israeli tourists in Hida-Takayama and would like to share the Takayama city’s
strategy how they become one of the most popular tourist places among foreigners especially Jews.
According to Takayama city statistics, the number of Israeli visitors has increased from mere 2,833 in 2013 to over 10,000 mark for the first time in 2016. The number has more than triple.
Total number of Israeli visitors to Japan during 2016 was about 30,000 so one-third of them visited Takayama.
In 2017, the total number of Israeli guests to Japan increased to 32,000 from previous year (up 7%)
(Chic Hida-Takayama old town village with historical kominka)
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