Thumbs down to Japan’s new fingerprint checks

TravelMole guest comment by Euromonitor International research analyst in Singapore, Parita Chitakasem

Japan’s new finger printing policy has sparked controversy amongst international organisations, including Amnesty International, and its tourism performance may be dented in the mid-to long term as conscious markets frown upon the new requirements put in place on November 20.

Until now, Japan’s tourism had made good headway compared to the late 1990s when it faced challenges to growth due to its expensive image and tough language barriers.

From 2003 onwards, after the FIFA World Cup event and tourism investment by the Japanese government, arrivals were recording double-digit year-on-year growth, and by the end of 2007, Euromonitor International statistics show total arrivals are set to reach almost 8.3 million, a 13% increase on the previous year.

But the new fingerprinting policy is a step backwards for Japan, and could potentially damage its tourism efforts achieved over the past three to four years.

The policy is even more severe than the US visitor policy (the only other market which enforces fingerprinting for short-term foreign visitors).

Not only foreign visitors, but seven out of the eight million non-ethnically Japanese permanent residents of Japan also need to be fingerprinted as they enter the country.

The new policy is based on the race of the person, rather than the nationality, and as such, confirms the views of Japan’s critics who emphasise the country’s persisting prejudice against those who are non-ethnically Japanese.

Whilst it is early days, the policy could cause unease amongst visitors from Asian source markets, including South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong and China, who together account for over 64% of total inbound visitors.

The policy has been given bad press in South Korea, with organisation, Mindan, (the Korean Residents Union in Japan) claiming that the bill promotes the view that all foreigners are criminals, even though its members are not subject to the law.

If these fingerprinting measures cause offence to South Koreans, its key target market, this could impact the potential growth of almost a third of its inbound visitors in the future.

If other key inbound markets, such as Taiwan, Hong Kong and China, show a reduction in inbound tourism growth as a result of the new measure, this could hamper Japan’s total growth in arrivals by 4-5 percentage points over the next five years, suppressing an otherwise double-digit growth rate which had been achieved in the past four years to a sluggish 5-6% year-on-year growth rate for the future.

Ongoing awareness of Japan’s culture and beauty may override any negative response towards its tourism industry.

However, the impression which Japan now leaves on other markets, as a country which discriminates against not only its visitors, but its own residents, will marr its image in the longer term.

Japan also faces the risk of potential visitors choosing alternative destinations for cultural tourism, especially if there are perceived difficulties or inconveniences in entering Japan in the future.

Markets to take share from Japan include South Korea, China and India, which are all agressively marketing their culture as major draws for visitors. Other markets which will remain strong competitors to Japan will be Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore and Hong Kong, where entry for foreigners remains much easier.