Strategic management in Japanese tourism industry during the COVID-19 pandemic

In recent years, Japan proved to be one of the world’s leading countries in the travel industry by international tourist arrivals, with many other businesses relying on foreign travelers’ consumption within the country. The current Covid-19 pandemic crisis is a challenge for the tourism industry all around the world, as well as for Japan, where the entry restrictions have been strict since the start of the pandemic, foreigners not being allowed to enter the country for leisure purposes. However, even though the national income in this economic area decreased, it is still very high compared with other countries, and many businesses managed at least to maintain their activity on the market. In this paper, I will first analyze what were the strategic measures the Japanese government had taken regarding the national tourism industry during the SARS epidemic at the beginning of the 21st Century. Further, I will compare those measures with the government’s attitude over Japan’s travel industry in the first year of the current pandemic. Furthermore, I will make a comparison of the national income in the travel industry and the number of tourists by major areas in 2020 and the previous year, in order to introduce some strategic measures that could improve Japanese tourism for the next period, considering that the Tokyo 2021 Olympic Games will be held this summer.