日本将提前5年实现每年2000万游客目标
Japan is poised to hit its tourism target of 20m inbound visitors five years ahead of schedule, according to a leading industry figure, thanks mainly to the weakness of the yen, a boom in Asian cruises and a surge in Chinese shoppers.
根据领先行业数据，日本将提前5年实现每年2000万入境游客的目标，主要原因是日元贬值、亚洲游轮旅游蓬勃发展以及中国游客激增。
Hideo Sawada, chief executive of HIS, Japan’s largest low-cost package tour company, said Chinese travellers appeared to have shrugged off the effects of a domestic slowdown and would continue arriving in robust numbers, unless China’s economy suffered a more dramatic crash.
日本最大低价旅行社HIS首席执行官Hideo Sawada表示，中国游客似乎没有理会国内经济放缓的影响，中国游客数量将继续稳健增长，除非中国经济遭遇更大规模冲击。
Inbound visitor numbers have been rising rapidly, from 8.4m in 2012 to more than 13.4m in 2014 — and by September this year the total had exceeded 14.4m.
日本入境游客数量一直迅速增长，从2012年的840万人增至2014年的逾1340万人，到今年9月，入境游客总量已超过1440万人。
This inbound tourism boom has already clogged the centres of major Japanese cities with tour buses and prompted hundreds of retailers to employ Chinese-speaking staff.
入境游热潮造成旅游大巴堵塞日本主要城市的中心，并促使数百家零售商聘用会讲中文的员工。
Mr Sawada,suggested cheaper travel had made Japan an attractive destination.
Hideo Sawada表示，更为廉价的旅游费用让日本成为一个吸引人的旅游目的地。
However, while waves of foreign visitors are discovering the delights of Tokyo, Osaka and Kyoto, Japan’s once formidable globetrotters are reining in their ambitions as a weaker yen, ageing demographics and “destination anxiety” about the safety of other cities take their toll. In a historic turning point, 2015 is likely to be the first year since 1971 that Japanese outbound journeys are outnumbered by foreign arrivals.
然而，尽管大量外国游客发现了东京、大阪和京都的美丽，但曾经不可一世的日本出境游客却在勒紧腰带，原因是日元贬值、人口老龄化以及对其他城市安全的担忧。2015年可能成为自1971年以来外国游客数量超过出境游客数量的第一年，这是一个具有历史意义的转折点。
This trend is unlikely to be reversed. Under the “Abenomics” economic policies of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, the government relaxed its visitor visa rules to help reach a target of 20m annual visitors by 2020 — the year Tokyo is due to host the Olympic Games.
这种趋势不太可能逆转。根据日本首相安倍晋三(Shinzo Abe)的“安倍经济学”，日本政府放松了旅游签证规定，以帮助实现到2020年达到每年2000万游客的目标，届时，东京将承办奥运会。
Although Mr Sawada is confident that HIS will continue to benefit from the inbound boom, he identified an urgent need for innovation as Japanese travelling tastes change. He has predicted that mundane hotel functions will be increasingly performed by robots, as at his hotel, and is considering a move into the cruise industry.
尽管Hideo Sawada相信，HIS将继续受益于入境旅游热潮，但他指出，随着日本旅游品味的改变，亟需创新。他预测，机器人将越来越多地履行单调的酒店功能，就像在他的酒店那样，此外他正考虑进军游轮行业。
