Japanese Express Interest to Know Estonia – Complain Bad Weather and Lack of Information Discourages Them From Travelling
According to a press release issued by the Estonian Foreign Ministry, most of the respondents knew Estonia’s location and basic facts about the history and best-known industries but noted the cold weather, accessibility, and lack of information about Estonia as negative aspects of the country. AtoZSerwisPlus.com reports.
The study was carried out by the Japanese research company Carter JMRN with respondents aged 18 to 69 years old in March of this year, which sampled a total of 10,000 interviewees, a thousand of whom were subjected to in-depth research.
“The best-known Estonian among the Japanese who participated in the survey is Kaido Höövelson, a member of the Riigikogu (known in Japan as sumo wrestler Baruto). He is followed by Paavo Järvi, former chief conductor of the NHK Orchestra of the Japanese Broadcasting Corporation, Ott Tänak, a rally driver, and Carmen Kass, a model,” the press release explains.
In addition, the respondents noted they have a positive perception of Estonia and an interest in visiting the country’s beautiful nature, cityscape, and culture. Half of them also pointed out that tourism and gourmet food are the most important sectors that attract special interest in the country.
The interviewees consider the Estonian business climate to be favorable and stable, especially among young people in the 18–29 age group. With the skills and experience, Estonians can set an example in Japan in the field of IT and digitisation while contributing to the development of innovative solutions.
According to data from the Visit Estonia site, in 2020, 1.97 million tourists were recorded in the country, which was down by 48 per cent compared to the previous year, before the COVID-19 pandemic broke. In addition, these nearly two million tourists spent 3.67 million overnight stays, which was a further 47 per cent below 2019 levels.
Furthermore, the country of origin for the tourists was Finland, which counted 984,000 fewer tourists, followed by Russia (366,000), while 321,000 fewer tourists picked domestic tourism. The rest of the tourists from the following countries had these changes in tourists:
- Germany (225,000)
- Sweden (137,000)
- Latvia (119,000)
- United Kingdom (116,000)
- United States (90,000)
- Spain (73,000)
- Norway (67,000)
- Italy (65,000)
- Lithuania (61,000)
- France (59,000)
On the other hand, tourists from the Netherlands and Japan had 46,000 fewer tourists, respectively during the 2019 and 2020 period.
