Japan tops in 2021 global travel and tourism index

Japan jumped to the first place in the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Ranking 2021, released on May 24. Although Japan is in the midst of a novel coronavirus epidemic, it is still more competitive than other international countries due to its abundant tourism infrastructure and resources, with high-end hotels and hot spring inns surrounding major tourist attractions.

The ranking was based on five areas. The five areas are: “tourism environment (e.g. security, medical care, etc.),” “travel and tourism policy,” “tourism infrastructure,” “tourism resources,” and “sustainability.

Japan received higher scores for infrastructure such as roads and railroads than in the previous survey. In terms of transportation, multilingual signage and various apps make it possible for foreign tourists to travel around Japan at their own pace, and the fact that the departure and arrival times of trains are almost error-free compared to the schedule is also a source of great interest to foreign tourists, making it one of Japan’s outstanding tourism resources.

However, there is still room for improvement in terms of price competitiveness and environmental sustainability.

WEF holds a ranking of travel and tourism competitiveness every other year. In the last ranking in 2019, Japan was ranked fourth overall.

1. Japan
2. United States
3. Spain
4. France
5. Germany
6. Switzerland
7. Australia
8. United Kingdom
9. Singapore
10. Italy

The Japanese government will finally open group entry to foreign tourists from all over the world in June, after a small-scale pilot program for group tours for foreigners in May 2022. For details, please refer to this article.

https://www.getaroundjapan.jp/archives/8923

We sincerely hope that visitors from all over the world will come to experience the beauty of Japan’s mountains and rivers.