JR Kyoto Station and the surrounding area can be seen in this photo, taken from a Mainichi Shimbun helicopter. (Mainichi / Tatsuya Onishi)
KYOTO – According to the Kyoto City Tourism Association’s monthly data report, major hotels in the western Japanese city of Kyoto saw Japanese guests increase by 30.4% in August compared to the same period last year.
Although a fourth state of emergency was declared from August 20 to September 30, after a quasi-emergency was imposed from August 2 to 19, factors such as rising coronavirus vaccination rates and self-restraint fatigue appear to have led to the increase.
However, the number of domestic tourists still declined by 20.6% compared to August 2019 – before the COVID-19 pandemic.
The survey included a total of 17,771 rooms in 100 hotels, about 50% of the hotels in Kyoto City. Stays by Japanese guests at 62 hotels that were subject to the same survey before the pandemic increased 9.2% from August 2020, but increased 43.3% from August 2019 – still well below pre-pandemic levels.
The occupancy of hotel rooms was 26.8%, an increase of 3.4 percentage points compared to August 2020, but 56.5 points less than the same month in 2019 – a lower occupancy than in other Japanese cities.
According to a current forecast in August of this year, room occupancy should shift by around 10-14% in September and October, but then recover to 22.7% in November. It is possible, however, that the number could improve significantly depending on the extent to which people’s movement restrictions are relaxed, the vaccination rate, and national and local government measures to stimulate consumption.
The total number of overseas guests who stayed overnight increased 67.8% from August 2020, but was still a 99.6% decrease from August 2019 Almost zero months in a row.
The average room rate was 9,030 yen (about $ 80), a 14.3% decrease from August last year. The room revenue index, which is the revenue per room, was 2,420 yen (about $ 21), a slight decrease from 2,466 yen in August 2020. However, it was down 78.9% from 11,465 yen (about $ 101) in August 2019, suggesting business remains difficult for Kyoto hotels.
(Japanese original by Satoshi Fukutomi, Kyoto Bureau)
