The Japanese government approved the fiscal 2025 supplementary budget draft at a cabinet meeting, and out of the total, a budget for Japan Tourism Agency (JTA) amounts to 22.5 billion yen to implement initiatives to resolve issues, such as over-tourism, to protect the safety and security of local residents, to aim for symbiosis with local communities, and to promote efforts to realize a sustainable, high-value-added tourism nation.
For over-tourism countermeasures at 6.8 billion yen, JTA is creating an environment that balances welcoming tourists with ensuring the quality of life of local residents and utilize local transportation resources and digital technology to ensure tourist transportation for travelers. The concrete actions include service improvement for travelers carrying large luggages, extension of cashless payments and introduction of Japan-version ride-sharing.
For sending more foreign visitors to local areas at 880 million yen, JTA is encouraging foreign visitors to Japan to take out medical insurance before their trip and upon arrival, promoting the provision of information in multiple languages, such as information on bear sightings, strengthening emergency response functions at tourist facilities, and implementing cashless payment methods at medical institutions.
For a survey to sweep away illegal short-term rental services at 40 million yen, JTA will begin studying details for improvement of ‘Short-term rental operation system.’
To help local areas create new tourism contents for diversification of demands at 4.9 billion yen, JTA is promoting the creation of tourism content that utilizes local resources, effective information dissemination and sales channel development, and the creation of higher-priced optional tours for inbound tourists.
For universal tourism at 4 billion yen, JTA is assisting tourism facilities and accommodations in introducing barrier-free equipments,
For more effective operations in tourist destinations or tourism operators at 2.6 billion yen, JTA is supporting them in resolving shortage of workforces and training human resources.
In addition, JTA is strengthening PR activities for a new refund duty-free system, which will start on November 1 2026.
