The Japanese government has accepted a budget draft of 53 billion yen for Japan Tourism Agency (JTA) for FY2025 starting April 1 2025. The 5.4% more budget draft than the FY2024 budget will continuously be used for ‘creation of sustainable tourism areas,‘ ‘strategic initiatives to send inbound tourists to local areas’ and ‘expansion of the domestic travel market’ under the fourth Basic Act for Promoting a Tourism-Oriented Country. 44.1 billion yen out of the budget draft is expected to come from international tourism passenger tax.
In addition, a supplementary budget of 15.8 billion yen for FY2024 has been approved for countermeasures against over-tourism.
Making Osaka Kansai EXPO a chance to send inbound tourists to local areas
For ‘strategic initiatives to send inbound tourists to local areas,’ a budget of 46.4 billion yen, 5.6% more than the FY2024 budget, has been approved, and as one of the strategic promotion programs, Japan National Tourism Organization (JNTO) is addressing promotions of Osaka Kansai EXPO 2025 to send inbound travelers to local areas.
A budget of 100 million yen has been accepted for digital nomad promotions to attract high-quality consumption and investment. Japan has started a new digital nomad visa rule since April 2024 and has selected five model areas to receive international digital nomads.
Also, JTA will draw up a mid- or long-term strategy to improve profitability of nature activity suppliers for more inbound travelers to local areas.
A budget of 16 million yen has been approved for PR of a new duty free rule, in which ‘refund rule’ will be enforced on November 1 2026.
Development of ICT-oriented sustainable tourism areas
JTA will use 5.4 billion yen, 5.1% more than the FY2024 budget, for ‘creation of sustainable tourism areas.’ A budget for development of ICT-oriented tourism areas for reception of inbound tourists, including introduction of a public ride-share program as the more convenient secondary public transportation, is up 88.5% to 1.9 billion yen, and a budget for world-standard destination management models is up 66.7% to 250 million yen.
A budget for expansion of the domestic travel market is down 39.3% to 460 million yen, including a second hometown project.
For outbound travel from Japan, a budget of 20 million yen has been approved for educational travel promotions.
