Tourism Crisis Management as Reflected in the Basic Plan for Promoting Japan as a Tourism Nation

1. New Basic Plan for Promoting Japan as a Tourism Nation

In March, the government approved and announced a new Basic Plan for Promoting Japan as a Tourism Nation. Following the previous plan adopted in 2017, the formulation of the next plan had been postponed due to the severe impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on tourism and the measures taken in response. However, this plan was finalized amid the subsiding of the pandemic and the movement toward the revival of tourism.

The theme of the plan is “Toward the Revival of a Tourism-Oriented Nation in a Sustainable Manner,” and it states that “what is required is not merely a return to pre-pandemic levels, but a revival in a sustainable form that is somewhat different from the pre-pandemic era.” The preface to the plan concludes by stating, “Now, with high expectations for the revival of tourism, it is time to take the first steps toward transformation to realize sustainable and resilient tourism.”

While I will leave the overall explanation of the plan’s contents to other researchers and experts, in this article I would like to take a closer look at the “tourism safety and crisis management” included in the new plan.

2. “Ensuring Traveler Safety” as Part of Building Sustainable Tourism Regions

The specific content of the Basic Plan for Promoting Japan as a Tourism Nation—namely, “measures the government should take comprehensively and systematically to realize Japan as a tourism nation”—is structured around the plan’s three key themes: “sustainable tourism,” “expanding consumer spending,” and “promoting regional tourism.” The section titled “(10) Ensuring Traveler Safety” is positioned within one of these themes, the “Strategy for Creating Sustainable Tourism Regions.”

In the previous plan adopted in 2017, “Ensuring the Safety of Tourist Travel” was positioned as one measure under “Improving the Environment for Promoting Tourist Travel.” However, I believe it is highly significant that in this plan, “Ensuring Traveler Safety” has been explicitly stated as an essential requirement of the “Strategy for Sustainable Tourism Region Development.”

Below, I will outline my understanding of the key points of the main measures described in the section on "(10) Ensuring Traveler Safety."

3. Provision of Disaster Prevention Information

The intent is to enhance the system for providing disaster prevention meteorological information issued by the Japan Meteorological Agency to municipalities, media outlets, and tourists, so that “tourists can take timely and appropriate actions to protect their lives even when heavy rain caused by linear rainbands or typhoons, large-scale earthquakes or tsunamis, or volcanic eruptions occurs.” This plan also touches on the utilization of cutting-edge technologies such as supercomputers and the next-generation geostationary meteorological satellites.

While the plan prominently features technical details, the crucial point for the tourism sector is whether it can provide information that enables tourists to “take timely and appropriate actions to protect their lives.” For example, improving the accuracy of flood and landslide forecasts and ensuring that “Flood Alert Level 4” is issued at the precise moment when evacuation is possible represents significant progress.

However, no matter how timely an announcement may be—such as “The risk of the XX River rising and flooding is increasing. A Level 4 evacuation order has been issued for the flood-prone areas in the XX district. Everyone in the flood-prone areas must evacuate immediately to evacuation shelters or the homes of safe relatives or acquaintances”—tourists who are unfamiliar with the area or the facility where they are currently located will not know where or how to evacuate. In some cases, “evacuating” to the upper floors of the building where they are currently located may be the safest option.

In such situations, ensuring that facility staff and bystanders can clearly instruct tourists—saying, “It’s actually more dangerous to go outside, so let’s go to the fourth floor of this building”—provides the information necessary to take actions that effectively protect lives.

4. Strengthening Evacuation Systems

This section states, “To rapidly assess road conditions during disasters and provide disaster information to road users, we will promote the strengthening of the aggregation of information on road passability and the widespread dissemination of such information via social media and other channels.” It advocates for the use of social media and other platforms to disseminate road traffic information during disasters, thereby supporting the smooth evacuation of tourists traveling by car.

5. Mitigating Disaster Impacts on Inbound Foreign Tourists

What stands out here is the opening statement: “To achieve the goal of becoming a sustainable tourism nation, the government will work as one to promote comprehensive disaster countermeasures and strive to ensure safety and security.” This indicates that the government is united in its efforts to “ensure the safety of travelers,” asserting that this leads to the creation of a “sustainable tourism nation.” Although the section is titled “Mitigating Disaster Damage for Inbound Foreign Tourists and Others,” its content outlines disaster countermeasures targeting all travelers and tourists, including Japanese citizens.

The measures place a strong emphasis on disseminating and providing information in multiple languages. Specifically, regarding information dissemination and provision targeted at foreign visitors to Japan, the document cites the following concrete examples: “raising awareness through the Japan National Tourism Organization’s (JNTO) website and social media; promoting the use of apps such as ‘Safety Tips’ that can send push notifications for disaster information; and providing multilingual support for inquiries at the JNTO call center.”

Last year, the Japan Tourism Agency created and published the “Guidelines for Developing Tourism Crisis Management Plans,” promoting the creation of such plans by local governments and tourism-related businesses. Regarding this, the document states the following: "To ensure the smooth evacuation of travelers, including foreign visitors to Japan, in the event of a disaster or crisis, we will promote the formulation by local governments and tourism-related businesses of 'Tourism Crisis Management Plans' that incorporate communication systems for disasters, frameworks for information collection and dissemination, and support systems for travelers." This wording is more explicit than previous statements.

Another newly added item is the promotion of the formulation and implementation of Business Continuity Plans (BCPs) for airports. In 2018, Kansai International Airport experienced flooding due to storm surges and passenger stranding, and the following year, in 2019, over 10,000 air passengers were stranded at Narita Airport due to the disruption of ground transportation. These incidents highlighted issues regarding flight operations management and passenger support at airports during natural disasters. In response, the national government requested that all 95 airports in Japan formulate an “Airport BCP (A2-BCP)” and, in the event of an emergency, implement it to ensure the safety of air passengers and establish a reception system allowing all stranded passengers to remain safely and securely within the airport for a certain period. While each airport has formulated an A2-BCP, this plan calls for the establishment of systems and preparations to ensure that the formulated BCP is immediately implemented when a disaster or other emergency occurs.

6. Response to the Next Infectious Disease Crisis

In light of concerns regarding the risk of infection among travelers and those working in the tourism industry due to the novel coronavirus (COVID-19), a new section titled “Response to the Next Infectious Disease Crisis” has been added to this plan. Since the beginning of the 21st century, we have seen outbreaks of infectious diseases—such as SARS, novel influenza, Ebola hemorrhagic fever, and MERS—that have had a significant impact on global tourism. Given the high likelihood that new infectious diseases will emerge in the future, the inclusion of this section in the plan is commendable. On the other hand, the content focuses primarily on the nation’s future preparedness for new infectious disease crises, with the target audience being “the public”; I was left with the impression that the plan does not clearly outline a response to infectious diseases specific to the tourism sector.

7. Promotion of Safety Measures for Public Transportation

While previous plans focused primarily on safety measures for buses and railways, this plan includes provisions regarding passenger ship safety, stating that it was added “in response to the sightseeing boat accident that occurred in Shiretoko, Hokkaido, in April 2022.”

Although “Comprehensive Measures to Ensure the Safe and Secure Operation of Chartered Buses” were compiled and implemented following the Karuizawa ski bus accident, accidents involving chartered and route buses have continued unabated. Consequently, the plan includes specific provisions regarding “Ensuring the Safe and Secure Operation of Chartered Buses.”

8. Maintenance of Fairness in Travel-Related Transactions

A new addition to this plan is the section on fairness in travel transactions. The plan states: “Based on the Travel Agency Act, we will strive to maintain fairness in travel-related transactions, ensure travel safety, and enhance convenience for travelers by conducting on-site inspections regarding compliance with regulations pertaining to travel transactions in a timely and appropriate manner.”

The reason why this plan sets forth strict policies regarding travel operations can be inferred from the following statement: “With regard to chartered bus tours in particular, we will ensure travel safety by implementing measures to prevent fares from falling below minimum levels and by utilizing the framework of the ‘Committee for Promoting Fair Transactions in Chartered Bus Tours,’ established by travel industry associations and bus industry associations.”

It is believed that travel agencies’ demands for unreasonably low fares and prolonged continuous operations placed undue strain on crew labor and operational management, contributing to bus accidents. Therefore, we interpret this as a clarification that fair transactions between travel agencies and bus companies, in accordance with the law, are necessary to ensure the safety of travelers using bus tours.

9. Strengthening the Response System for Foreign Visitors’ Urgent Appeals and Consultations

While the previous plan focused on “creating an environment where visitors can experience Japan’s excellent public safety,” this plan places greater emphasis on responding to personal emergencies and consultations from foreign travelers, making the content more specific. In particular, the requirement for a rapid response to emergency calls (110 and 119) made in languages other than Japanese has been further specified. The plan explicitly states that “to ensure a swift and accurate response to 119 calls, we will promote the introduction of a three-way simultaneous interpretation system—enabling a three-way call involving the fire dispatch center and an interpreter—at fire departments nationwide.”

Since multilingual support in emergency medical services is also a challenge, the plan states: “To ensure smooth communication and effective emergency response when ambulance crews attend to foreign patients, we will promote the introduction of multilingual voice translation systems such as ‘Kyukyuu Voistra’ at fire departments nationwide. ”Incidentally, as of January of this year, “Emergency Voice-Tra” has been introduced in 683 of the nation’s 723 fire departments (a 94.5% adoption rate), and the government aims to achieve 100% adoption.

10. Tourism Recovery from the Great East Japan Earthquake

While “Tourism Recovery in Tohoku” was positioned under “Formation of Attractive Tourism Regions with High International Competitiveness” in the previous plan, in this plan, its position has shifted to become a sub-item under “Ensuring Traveler Safety,” and its title has been changed to “Tourism Recovery from the Great East Japan Earthquake.”

This change is likely based on the recognition that the tourism recovery of the Tohoku region as a whole has achieved its goals, as evidenced by the statement that “the government’s target of 1.5 million overnight stays by foreign visitors in the six prefectures of Tohoku by 2020 was exceeded one year ahead of schedule in 2019.”On the other hand, the text states that “in Fukushima Prefecture, the growth rate of total foreign overnight stays compared to pre-disaster levels has not reached the level of the Tohoku region as a whole due to factors such as the impact of negative rumors stemming from the nuclear disaster, and it is believed that the prefecture has not been able to fully benefit from the nationwide increase in inbound tourism.” From this, one can infer the intention to shift the focus of tourism recovery policies from the Tohoku region as a whole to Fukushima Prefecture (particularly the Hamadori region).

Furthermore, it is worth noting that the plan expresses, more strongly than ever before, a proactive stance toward transforming the experience of the disaster into future tourism content and promoting it to the world. This is evident in statements such as “preserving the memories and lessons of the Great East Japan Earthquake for future generations, while providing opportunities for disaster prevention education and training, and showcasing the reconstruction of the affected areas to the world,” as well as “promoting tourism to wide-area routes that include earthquake-damaged structures and heritage museums in various regions.”

The main items listed under “(10) Ensuring Traveler Safety” are as described above. However, as one reads further into the plan, the section that follows—“2. Inbound Recovery Strategy” (8) “Improving the Inbound Reception Environment”—includes content related to the aforementioned “Strengthening Response Systems for Foreigners’ Urgent Complaints and Consultations” under the heading “Enhancing Systems for Receiving Foreign Patients. ”Creating an environment where foreign travelers can easily receive medical care at domestic medical institutions when they are injured or fall ill is crucial for establishing a reliable system for welcoming inbound tourists.

Furthermore, under “(9) Promotion of Outbound Travel and International Exchange,” there is a section on “Safety Measures for Japanese Travelers Abroad.” In addition to the information previously provided on the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ Overseas Safety website and through “Tabireji,” the document specifically mentions the utilization of the “Travel Safety Information Sharing Platform,” which is currently being developed through cooperation between the Japan Tourism Agency and travel industry associations. Please refer to this section.

The above provides an overview of tourism crisis management and travel safety measures outlined in the Basic Plan for Promoting Japan as a Tourism Nation. We hope that readers of this column will use this information as a reference to take the next step in advancing tourism crisis management and travel safety measures for their regions or companies, starting with what is feasible and prioritizing the most urgent actions.

Please note that this article covers only a small portion of the plan; however, as it outlines the future direction of tourism in Japan, we recommend downloading and reading the full document if you have the opportunity.

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Japan Tourism Agency: Basic Plan for Promoting Japan as a Tourism Nation