Kyoto gets ready to welcome back foreign visitors

Kyoto gets ready to welcome back foreign visitors with Japan opening its doors to overseas tourists on guided tours on June 10, Kyoto has been preparing for a return to activity. But at the same time, the city remains mindful of the balance between the local economy and respect for residents’ lives, as it struggled with over-tourism prior to the coronavirus pandemic.

In late June, this reporter accompanied sociologist Jiro Nakai, 45, who is a part-time lecturer at Ryukoku University, on a walk from Shijo Ohashi Bridge over the Kamo River in central Kyoto to the area around the city’s Gion district. Nakai, who has lived in the Kyoto area since his student years, has observed the area’s scenery change along with the surge of foreign tourists. He said, “Gion in the past was quiet with a solemn atmosphere, and was hard to approach. Following the increase in tourists, the area became home to noisy crowds.”

Being the largest “hanamachi” entertainment district in Kyoto, rows of teahouses and eateries can be found in Gion, centered on Hanamikoji Street. The establishments have a tradition of turning down first-time customers, and originally had fewer tourists compared to other spots in Kyoto, but the number of visitors suddenly rose in around 2014. Cases of foreigners taking photos on private property and littering on the streets continuously emerged, and the Japanese term “tourism pollution” began to be used around this time.

In a book published in 2019, Nakai shared the voices of bewildered locals and the reality of foreign tourists and other people chasing after “maiko,” or apprentice geisha, with cameras in hand. Around this time, buses in Kyoto were full of tourists with suitcases, leading to frequent cases where residents were unable to board them.

About six months after the book’s publication, the number of tourists began to plummet amid the spread of the coronavirus. According to the Kyoto Municipal Government, the number of visitors staying overnight in Kyoto fell from 13.16 million people in 2019 to 5.31 million in 2020 and 5.16 million in 2021. Among them, the number of foreign guests reached 3.79 million in 2019 but plummeted by 90% in 2020 to stand at 440,000. In 2021, there were only 50,000 foreign visitors who stayed at hotels and other accommodation facilities in Kyoto.

After crowds vanished from entertainment districts, some members of the local community said their lives had become more comfortable. At the same time, however, a dismal atmosphere hung over the hushed streets as the “yamahoko” float parade, the highlight of the Gion Festival, was canceled for two years in a row. The Gozan Okuribi bonfire festival was additionally scaled down. Other issues also came to light.

“While foreign tourists have disappeared, the amount of garbage in the Kamo River has not decreased. Despite Kyoto having flourished thanks to tourism, people may have forgotten this point, and laid the blame on tourists,” Nakai said while walking along the riverbank with few people in sight.

With a history of over 400 years, the city’s Nishiki market, known as “Kyoto’s Kitchen,” also benefited from high foreign tourist numbers. The 76-year-old owner of a “kamaboko” fish cake store, who grew up in the market, said sales doubled amid the rise in inbound tourism. The owner commented, “Above all else, there was a great number of foreign tourists. It was a great help.” However, the store’s profits decreased by 80% at one point due to COVID-19.

A decline in tourism impacts not only the local economy but also the daily lives of residents. The number of city bus users fell drastically. The city’s accommodation tax revenue, which is used for protecting cultural properties and other purposes, also fell from 4.2 billion yen (about $31.5 million) in fiscal 2019 to 1.3 billion yen (about $9.7 million) in fiscal 2020.

The Kyoto Municipal Government has been actively releasing such information on its official website. Its tax revenue from tourism for fiscal 2019 is estimated at 39 billion yen, or roughly $290 million, accounting for 12.8% of the city’s total revenue from taxes. A city official said, “If tourists continue to stay away, there are concerns that administrative services will not be able to be maintained.”

In November 2020, the municipal government and Kyoto City Tourism Association created a “Code of Conduct for Sustainable Tourism in Kyoto” that called for tourism businesses to respect residents’ daily lives and urged them to spread the community’s rules and manners among visitors. In this way, Kyoto as a whole has been tackling the challenge of promoting tourism in the area while taking heed to prevent tourist-related problems, ahead of a full-fledged return of inbound guests.