Destinations known | ‘Bullet climbing’ crisis on the cards at Mount Fuji with Japan struggling to accommodate all the tourists flocking to the country

With unprecedented visitor numbers expected at Mount Fuji, many who can’t find beds in mountain huts will scale the peak overnight, and could get into trouble

It’s one aspect of a tourist accommodation shortage caused partly by hotels and inns failing to staff up following the pandemic. Are foreign workers the answer?

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Climbers hike up Mount Fuji, Japan’s highest peak. Congestion is common on trails during the summer climbing season, but could be worse than ever in 2023. Climbers typically rest in mountain huts, but demand for beds will exceed supply this year, part of a general accommodation crunch in Japan. Photo: Chris McGrath/Getty Images

Mark Footer

Published: 11:45am, 3 Aug 2023

As far as the post-Covid rebound of tourism in Japan goes, there’s good news and there’s bad news.

Although Hongkongers’ favourite country – more than 45 per cent of their searches for flights in July and August have been for those to cities in Japan, according to online agency Expedia – saw overall visitor numbers recover to more than 60 per cent of pre-pandemic levels in the first half of 2023, there simply aren’t enough workers to give all those returning sightseers a proper welcome.

“Many hotels and ryokan, Japanese-style inns, that let employees go at the height of the pandemic are now struggling to secure workers to accommodate a sharp increase in guests,” reports the Japan Times. “Many in the industry are worried about not being able to fully harness recovering demand.”

The Japanese newspaper quotes an Osaka hotelier as saying: “Some hotels have reduced room availability.”

And there are worries about a surge in “bullet climbing” up Japan’s most sacred landmark.