The first meeting of a cross-ministries conference to discuss prevention or control of over-tourism was held on September 6, joined by the related-ministries including Cabinet Secretariat, the National Police Agency, Digital Agency, Cultural Affairs Agency, Ministry of Environment, Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism as well as Japan Tourism Agency as an organizer.
The conference was launched, as Japanese Prime Minister, said in late August that the government would take care of concerns about over-tourism.
The conference is supposed to sum up effective measures in this autumn.
Ichiro Takahashi, Japan Tourism Agency Commissioner, said as a chairman, “The government has taken actions for over-tourism, but we should develop more concrete actions for the future.”
At the first meeting, the members shared the current challenges in tourism amid quick recovery of the inbound travel market and confirmed that excess crowd has seen in particular areas and times.
In addition, the conference confirmed that over-tourism is defined as excessive negative influences on local people’s quality of life and travelers’ experiences by tourism, which is a definition by World Tourism Organization (UNWTO).
The government places over-tourism countermeasures as one of the actions in the sustainable tourism destination creation strategy, and Japan Tourism Agency has requested a budget of 1.9 billion JPY for FY2024 starting April 1 2024 in the local environment development program including over-tourism countermeasures.
