Japan’s Environment Ministry plans to entice more foreign tourists to visit the country’s national parks by rolling out a series of animal watching tours in partnership with tourist agencies.
To fund the efforts, the ministry plans to tap onto a nearly 5-million-yen revenue earned from tourist taxes introduced in January, The Japan News reported.
One of the parks earmarked for promotion is the Shiretoko National Park in Hokkaido, where nearly 30,000 visitors flock yearly to catch sight of Steller's sea eagles. Visitors will soon be able to go on new birdwatching tours at the park.
Other popular animal watching experiences that could be explored include tours to see tancho Japanese cranes in Hokkaido’s Kushiro Shitsugen National Park and Asian black bears in Joshinetsu Kogen National Park.
The move comes amid the rising visitor numbers to Japan’s national parks year-on-year. The ministry aims to double the figure from about 4.9 million in 2015 to 10 million by 2020.
Improvements to parks include the introduction of multilingual signs, including English, Chinese and other languages. Virtual reality facilities are also being considered, which will enable visitors to experience simulations of the lives of wild animals and scenery.