international visitation

Tokyo, Friday, 19 September 2025.
Retail and resort leaders should brace for near-term demand headwinds as a cluster of policy moves reshapes international visitation. This Friday’s reporting highlights a striking signal: travel from Canada to the US plunged by roughly 37% year‑on‑year in July 2025, compounding impacts from new tourist levies in Italy and Japan (notably Okinawa’s capped accommodation tax and Venice’s expanded day‑trip fee). Together, these measures aim to curb overtourism and fund sustainability but carry predictable commercial effects: lower high‑yield arrivals, shorter lengths of stay and pressure on ancillary spend (F&B, retail, hotels). For park operators and retail buyers the priority is scenario planning across pricing, packaging and distribution — dynamic packages to absorb per‑visitor taxes, contract clauses with international tour operators, and recalibrated staffing and inventory forecasts. Actionable next steps: accelerate data‑driven demand forecasting, shift marketing to resilient domestic segments, diversify feeder markets and run cash‑flow stress tests for Q4 2025 through FY2026.

London, Saturday, 30 August 2025.
UK expands its travel advisory this Saturday to additional European destinations and Indonesia, bundling safety, entry and driving guidance that will reshape outbound travel for summer and autumn 2025. For theme parks, three immediate impacts emerge: short‑term softness and redistribution of UK visitation as operators and independent travellers reroute or postpone; operational strain on parks reliant on UK/EU feeder markets—group bookings, transfers and inbound contracts; and accelerated contingency planning for guest communication, flexible booking and revenue management. The Indonesia advisory flags a mandatory All Indonesia Arrival Card from September, risking arrival delays that could disrupt opening‑day throughput and staffing forecasts for operators dependent on UK and commonwealth source markets. Also noteworthy is the Schengen Entry/Exit System (EES) due in October 2025, likely to lengthen border waits across affected European markets. Recommended near-term actions include revising demand forecasts, coordinating with inbound partners to monitor booking curves, and testing dynamic pricing and targeted marketing to capture redistributed demand.