Published on : Tuesday, March 12, 2019
Inbound tourism to Osaka went up five-fold between 2012 and 2017, faster than visits to Tokyo, and the city attracted low-cost carriers and promoted itself as a base to visit the 25 World Heritage sites in nearby Kyoto and Nara.
Tourism is entering a new phase now, where instead of splurging on luxury brands, visitors want to spend more on services like makeup consulting, maternity goods and other cheaper items.
“Osaka was running at full speed on tourism, but now we’re moving to a more sustainable pace of growth,” said Takeshi Yamaguchi, associate director of research at real estate consulting firm CBRE in Osaka.
“Compared to Tokyo, Osaka is positioned for longer and more sustainable growth in development and tourism because of things like the integrated resort,” added Yamaguchi.
The success of Osaka, which was long overshadowed by Tokyo and was dismissed earlier as gritty and chaotic, has caught trade analysts by surprise.
The city’s compact layout and food culture have caught up with Asian tourists, and that has created new opportunities for start-ups, social media marketing consultants and foreign property developers.
Osaka and its surrounding cities may set the most visible example of how Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s economic policies have brought about a change in Japan.
Since Abe took office in late 2012, the government has relaxed visa requirements for China and other Southeast Asian countries. Foreign visitors to Osaka went up to 11.1 million in 2017, a five-fold increase from 2012, making it Japan’s fastest-growing inbound tourist destination.