Asakusa, Niseko selected among 20 model areas to tackle overtourism

Asakusa, Niseko and Mt. Fuji are among 20 areas selected by the Japan Tourism Agency to serve as model regions implementing initiatives aimed at tackling issues related to overtourism. 

In each of the 20 selected regions, announced Tuesday, the tourism agency will establish committees to facilitate consultation among local stakeholders, including residents, under a project aimed at promoting sustainable tourism by preventing and curbing overtourism.

With the support of the tourism agency, local governments from the regions are expected to take the lead in formulating plans and implementing initiatives to ease traffic congestion and address other issues related to overtourism based on the consultations. In some regions committees have already been established.

The popular winter resort of Niseko, on Japan’s northernmost main island of Hokkaido, was selected by the tourism agency on the back of a transportation model project which made use of taxi cabs and drivers dispatched from outside of the area to address transportation issues caused by overtourism during the winter season in the towns of Kutchan and Niseko.  

Through the Niseko Model project, over the last winter season a total of eight companies, 11 vehicles, and 25 cab drivers were dispatched to the Niseko area for a period of three months. More than 20,000 rides were handled in that time at an average of 200 per day. At its peak the project handled 301 rides in a single day in February. 

Overseas passengers, from 51 countries and regions, accounted for around 90 percent of fares, according to the project organizers.

“The Niseko Model project was implemented in a short period of time but was able to solve the issues faced by the Niseko area. We are confident that it will be held in high regard as a model case that can be applied to other regions,” Kutchan Town Mayor Kazushi Monji commented. 

It might not come as much of a surprise to see Niseko among the tourism agency’s model regions.

Prior to pandemic-related travel restrictions there had already been reports of developing tensions between locals and the increasing number of foreign residents drawn to the area for its high-quality skiing and snowboarding conditions.

In March, Japan's internal affairs minister approved a new accommodation tax scheme for the area under which visitors will be liable to pay up to 2,000 yen per night at their lodgings with generated funds going towards improving regional tourism infrastructure.

Both Yamanashi Prefecture and Shizuoka Prefecture applied and were selected for the project by the tourism agency. Since the lifting of pandemic-related travel restrictions both regions have been facing an uphill struggle to keep the number of climbers on Mt. Fuji under control. 

In December last year Yamanashi Prefecture announced plans to collect a fee from climbers wishing to summit Mt. Fuji from the mountain’s fifth station and to restrict the number of daily climbers starting from the summer climbing season this year. 

Shizuoka Prefecture followed suit and in February announced a restriction on climbing Mt. Fuji overnight, fearing an increase in climbers looking to avoid restrictions on the Yamanashi side of the mountain. 

Under the tourism agency project initiatives will be implemented by both prefectures focusing on climber safety.

The Asakusa district of Tokyo’s Taito Ward is the only area in the Japanese capital among the 20 regions selected by the tourism agency. 

With an area of 10.11 square-kilometers, Taito is the smallest of Tokyo’s central 23 wards. In the districts of Asakusa and Ueno, however, it is home to some of the capital’s most celebrated cultural attractions, including Sensoji temple in Asakusa and a high concentration of museums in Ueno. The ward welcomed over 55 million tourists in 2018, including some 9.5 million tourists from overseas.   

Taito Ward was the subject of joint study on preventing overtourism, which the ward conducted together with the Tokyo Convention and Visitors Bureau and Jalan Research Center, the findings of which were included in a report published in February.

The report cited surveys about overtourism conducted in Taito Ward targeting both residents and tourists. According to a survey of residents, more than 80 percent of respondents had a favorable view of tourism but still held some negative opinions. 

In a poll of 73 overseas travelers who visited Asakusa in December last year, around 60 percent of the respondents said that they felt the area was crowded, according to the report. Of those, around 80 percent said that the crowds did not prevent them from enjoying themselves. Only 10 percent of overseas travelers expressed awareness of a campaign promoting good manners being carried out by the ward.

The Japan Tourism Agency will begin soliciting a second round of applications to the sustainable model project from May. 

The project is based on a package of countermeasures drawn-up by the government aimed at tackling issues related to overtourism, including overcrowding and bad manners at popular tourist spots. The countermeasures were announced last October amid a rebound in tourism following the downgrade of the legal status of the novel coronavirus to the same level as seasonal flu and the lifting of travel restrictions.