TL;DR Junglia Okinawa, a new theme park in Okinawa, opened with higher admission fees for oversea visitors. The park aims to boost tourism in Okinawa’s northern region, featuring 22 attractions and an open-air bath.
by SkyInJapan
TL;DR Junglia Okinawa, a new theme park in Okinawa, opened with higher admission fees for oversea visitors. The park aims to boost tourism in Okinawa’s northern region, featuring 22 attractions and an open-air bath.
by SkyInJapan
17 comments
Instead of having two sets of prices, they should have one set of prices with a discount for residents of Japan. It would be the same prices in the end, but it would feel less discriminatory.
A price for locals and a price for tourists is a common practice in many Asian countries.
In Singapore, some parks have fees for tourists while it’s free if you show your citizen card.
One of the many reasons was in these lower economical places the exchange rate was so much more beneficial for tourists.
Just like the situation in Japan right now.
I see no reason why we shouldn’t do something similar here.
Do you think Japanese people will have to show their my number card/other ID to get the discount?
I genuinely don’t think tourists care about paying more in most cases. I think it’s the foreign residents who worry about whether it’s discriminatory (even though they’d qualify for lower prices with proof).
Although, in all cases it should be branded as discounts for residents. Tourists feel like they’re paying standard price, residents feel like they’re getting a discount. Everyone’s happy.
all visitors to okinawa come from overseas, ba dum tssss
Tax them foreigners
Disney World charges residents of Florida less than people from outside the state.
As a former resident of Okinawa. Spouse of an ALT I think some background is needed.
The theme park is near the Churaiumi Aquarium. So you’d probably want to visit both. The aquarium is one of the big tourist attractions after Shuri castle burned down. So Okinawa really could use more attractions while the castle is being rebuilt.
There are many quite a few US Military bases on Okinawa and military families with spare time to explore Okinawa who may get more bent out of shape about this. As there is a bit of an entitlement in said families. This is a bit of a drive from the airport and like most things in Okinawa you’ll definitely need a car to get to.
That being said Okinawa doesn’t have a lot of work opportunities and many of my friends had second jobs on the bases. So I’m not really that upset if they have a dual price system. Okinawans could use a break.
I firmly believe visitors wouldn’t mind the price as it is closer to theme parks elsewhere but absolutely bonkers for Japan in my opinion.
We’re getting paid terrible wages, and the cost of living sucks. We deserve to get lower prices.
They’re phrasing this in a way that’s going to make people mad. There are already discounts for local residents at places all around the world.
This is fairly common, even in Japan. You’ll often see local discounts if you live in the city or ward of the attraction – Edo-Tokyo Open Air Architectural Museum has discounts for people who live in Koganei for example.
I wonder how long would it take to get out of control.
Here in Vancouver Canada BC is common to see tourist locations have local discounts you get when you show your Canadian/provincial certified ID.
This isn’t an uncommon concept to discount locals.
Yep, same system in Hawaii. Should do it everywhere in Japan.
This must be the famous omotenashi in action.
The point is whether resident foreigners would be excluded out of this cost?
You don’t see Disney engaging in such nonsense, and probably never will.
The reason Disney is successful and doesn’t price based on visa status is not only due to brand power but is largely due to repeaters.
Other parks in Japan don’t have the luxury of repeaters. They are lucky to get one-time visitors but give them no reason to return.
Going to Disney is not just a visit. It’s an exciting experience that lights up the dopamine receptors so much that people plan their next trip before the current one is finished.
Nara Dreamland, Yokohama Dreamland, Expoland, Space World, Festivalgate, and Glucks Kingdom all went under in the last 30 years and none of them failed because they charged tourists too much. They failed because they couldn’t get locals to come back at any price. Repeat traffic is the lifeline of a theme park. If you don’t have repeaters, nothing else matters.
“Junglia” might be a nice one-off trip. But a repeat destination? Doubtful. As for charging tourists more, who cares?