Travel to Japan has skyrocketed over the past several years, with more than 30 million visitors flocking to cities like Toyko and Kyoto in 2018 alone. Tourism has taken a major hit since the coronavirus outbreak, however, prompting enterprising shop owners in Kyoto to spin the situation in an attempt to reignite international interest in the city.
Creating a marketing campaign called suitemasu Arashiyama, or “empty Arashiyama,” vendors in Kyoto’s Arashiyama neighborhood have begun advertising the city’s emptiness as an opportunity for travelers to fulfill the universal dream of visiting a destination as popular as Japan without running into hordes of other tourists.
