More than 70% of Japanese accommodation facilities report labor shortages as inbound tourism surges toward the government's 60 million annual visitor target by 2030. The survey found midsize hotels and inns are most affected, with many cutting services or facing higher hiring costs. The government white paper concludes that lasting solutions require improving working conditions—higher pay, better benefits, and digital investment—rather than relying on temporary hiring of foreign and part-time workers.
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A government white paper on tourism released Friday found that 72.2% of 522 accommodation facilities surveyed between December and January reported labor shortages. Midsize facilities with annual sales between ¥100 million and ¥1 billion were hardest hit, with 77.1% experiencing understaffing.
Why it matters
As Japan pursues its goal of 60 million inbound tourists annually by 2030—up from 42.68 million in 2025—chronic understaffing threatens the sustainability of tourism as a strategic industry. Understaffed properties report increased workload on existing workers (79.3%), higher hiring costs (50.4%), and forced service cuts (40.6%), which may degrade the visitor experience and competitiveness.
What to watch
The white paper identifies low pay and insufficient days off as root causes, and recommends fundamental fixes: raising salaries, improving benefits, creating women-friendly workplaces, and investing in digital tools. Temporary measures like hiring foreign nationals and part-time workers have provided only short-term relief.
Japan's tourism industry is experiencing rapid growth—foreign visitors reached 42.68 million in 2025, and Japan ranked ninth globally and first in Asia by tourism revenue in 2024. Yet this expansion is straining the accommodation sector's ability to staff properties. The white paper's finding that 72.2% of surveyed facilities report understaffing reveals a structural mismatch: inbound demand is accelerating, but the hospitality workforce is not keeping pace.
The root causes identified—low pay, few days off—point to a deeper labor-market problem. Small and midsize properties, which employ the majority of workers in Japan's accommodation sector, appear most vulnerable; 77.1% of midsize facilities report shortages, and many operate with fewer than 30 staff. The practical consequences—79.3% cite overloaded existing workers, 50.4% report rising hiring costs, 40.6% cut services—suggest that temporary fixes like part-time and foreign-national hires are insufficient. The white paper's recommendation to improve working conditions through higher salaries, better benefits, and digital investment implies that lasting relief requires sustained business investment, not just hiring flexibility.
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