Japanese prefectures reassess foreign tourist incentives
Schemes in Kagoshima, Nara and Shimane have prompted complaints about whether benefits aimed at overseas visitors are appropriate.
- Japanese prefectures are facing public criticism over incentives for foreign tourists, such as subsidized train fares and free admission, which are seen as "unfair" preferential treatment.
- In response to backlash, Nara Prefecture abolished its free admission policy for foreigners, with the governor also noting it was ineffective at attracting visitors.
- Kagoshima Prefecture is dealing with hundreds of complaints over a fully subsidized bullet train fare, while Shimane Prefecture has discontinued some discounts due to criticism and the weak yen.
Local governments in Japan are facing public criticism over tourism measures aimed at attracting foreign visitors, including subsidies for Shinkansen bullet train fares and exemptions from admission fees.
Critics have described some of the initiatives as “unfair”, arguing that they appear to give preferential treatment to overseas tourists.
In Kagoshima Prefecture, in the south-western Japan region of Kyushu, the prefectural government introduced a new initiative this fiscal year as the number of foreign visitors remained below pre-COVID-19 pandemic levels.
Under the scheme, one-way Shinkansen fares of around 10,000 yen from Hakata Station in Fukuoka Prefecture, also in Kyushu, are fully subsidised.
The prefectural government said the measure is intended to inform potential visitors from countries without direct flights to Kagoshima that the prefecture can be reached by Shinkansen.
However, about a month after the initiative was announced in February, it had drawn around 600 complaints.
Among them were comments such as, “Is it preferential treatment for foreigners?” and “I don't want foreigners to come if our taxes are used.”
“We're also working to attract Japanese people, but only the project for foreign visitors has received attention,” an official of the Kagoshima prefectural government said. “We hope to invite both domestic and foreign tourists while carefully explaining the measures.”
Nara Prefecture, in western Japan, has offered foreign visitors free admission to four facilities, including the prefectural art museum, since 2008.
The prefecture abolished the programme in April 2024 after social media posts claimed that measures providing benefits only to foreigners were inappropriate.
Nara Governor Makoto Yamashita said the exemption had not functioned effectively as a tool to attract visitors. “Many (foreign visitors) learn it is free only after they come to the counter, so it has not helped attract customers,” he said. “We can't gain an understanding of the people of the prefecture.”
In Shimane Prefecture, also in western Japan, 33 facilities, including Matsue Castle and a number of art museums, offered discounts to foreign visitors as of fiscal 2019.
Since 2023, however, some of those discounts have been discontinued.
The Shimane prefectural government had promoted the discount system as a way to monitor visitor numbers, but later revised its approach as the weaker yen contributed to an increase in wealthy tourists.
Some facilities also ended the discounts after facing criticism that they amounted to preferential treatment for foreigners.
At the same time, 11 facilities that remain popular with overseas visitors, including the Adachi Museum of Art and the Iwami Ginzan World Heritage Centre, continue to provide discounts.
In connection with the 2025 World Exposition in Osaka, the Shimane prefectural government has also introduced a project that reduces expressway bus fares by more than half to 2,000 yen on routes between Osaka Prefecture and Shimane. “We'll decide whether to continue this service based on how it has been used,” a prefectural government official said.
[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]
