Workations Transforming Japan's Tourism
Explore Japan's unique approach to workations, their impact on tourism, and how they're reshaping travel and local community engagement.
This week we’re traveling to Japan - thanks to dr. Kotaro, a colleague from Japan who sent me an insightful research paper about Japanese-style workations.
The purpose of this post is to look at what do workations look like in Japan and what kind of programs they’re creating to connect travelers with local communities.
What are Japanese-style workations?
As it’s clear from the name, workations are vacations mixed with work.
When thinking about workations, we mostly think about the population who has a location-independent job and leverages this to travel more extensively while doing their work online.
Their job lets them stay in places longer than the usual vacation traveler. That’s why they are interesting to countries and tourism officials who are trying to attract this segment of travelers to their parts of the world. And Japan is no different.
Japan had a decrease of 72% of international tourist arrivals in 2021 compared to 2019. A big hit for the economy which generated US$ 3.5 trillion in tourism direct gross domestic product pre-pandemic.
In their efforts to mitigate this crisis and try to come back to pre-pandemic levels, they found that the concept of workations could be interesting.
Apart from solving the economy, they’re heavily trying to dissolve the over-concentration of people in Tokyo and trying to solve local social problems.
But their view of workations is a bit different and interesting to me. The Japan Workcation Association, established in 2020, defines workations as “Means of living and working prosperously in different places.”
They also classified workations into seven categories:
Holiday utilization type,
base travel type,
conference type,
training type,
new value creation type,
local social problem-solving type,
and well-being type.
In the article, they are referred to as Japanese-style workations, which aim to contribute to local communities, increase interactions with local residents and minimize the effects of Covid-19 on the tourism industry.
In their definition they don’t mention anything about remote workers or digital nomads. Because they estimate that the number of digital nomads in Japan is not that high (they don’t measure it though), their workation model is targeting employees that work remotely or not - higher in numbers.
Pre vs post-pandemic
Pre-pandemic, workation actions were primarily introduced to help revitalize communities outside of Tokyo and try to disperse the local population out of the capital.
After the pandemic, the government decided to promote workations as a new type of tourism in order to help reboot the industry.
Basically while promoting migrations of employees of different companies enrolled in the program, they are encouraging them to visit or even move part time (or full time) to less visited places.
Now lets look at the practical side of it.
Tottori Kakeru Fukugyo case study
In the paper, they offer us a case study of the "Tottori Kakeru Fukugyo" programme which offers urban professionals an opportunity to immerse themselves in diverse roles within rural settings in Japan.
In 2021, the initiative collaborated with six local entities, ranging from coffee bean merchants to agricultural cooperatives. Out of a large number of applicants, 15 participants proposed 33 innovative projects to these businesses, with nine of them actually being implemented.
One participant, a man in his 40s from a travel agency, was looking for a change from his daily routine. While his regular job didn't offer remote working options, this programme provided him with a fresh perspective. He took on varied tasks and was recognized for skills that often went unnoticed in his day-to-day role.
Similarly, a female participant, typically engaged in electronics retail and also in her 40s, explored a different path. She ventured into coffee roasting during the programme, an experience she found so enriching that she continued the practice at her own home.
Both participants experienced a good blend of professional growth and leisure during the programme, they explained.
What sets the "Tottori Kakeru Fukugyo" programme apart is its emphasis on genuine engagement rather than mere remote work. Participants are encouraged to adopt roles distinct from their usual professions, fostering a deeper connection with the local community.
The Implications of workations
So what are the concrete impacts and implications of such kind of workations for all stakeholders?
For visitors, whether they are working remotely or not, it offers a good way to break their routine, go out of their comfort zone and become more engaged with a local community away from their home.
I see this especially useful for remote workers as they normally work behind their computers and going to a local community to do hands on work can be very good for their mental and physical health.
For local communities, especially rural areas, this can be beneficial in terms of brain-gain. With remote work possible, rural areas don’t need to suffer from brain-drain anymore.
Whether it’s digital nomad migrations or people temporarily changing their in-person job, this is affecting how we engage with travel and visiting communities.
In the next decade, this trend will change how and when we travel, making room for new services and business opportunities in the industry.
Have you ever tried yourself in similar programs? I would love to hear your story!
Check out the full case study here.