Annual General Meeting to be held on May 13, 2025 Future Tourism Administration of Nagoya City

Reporter: Nagoya Mayor Ichiro Hirosawa

Nagoya City welcomed new Mayor Ichiro Hirosawa, and we spoke with him about how the city's tourism administration will change in the future, particularly from the perspective of inbound tourism.

Nagoya is the third most populous metropolis after Tokyo and Osaka. However, when asked what the third-largest city in the United States is after New York and Los Angeles, few people can answer. The answer is Chicago. Similarly, it's difficult to remember the third-largest city in France or Germany. Given this situation, Nagoya is leveraging its strengths to focus on attracting inbound tourists.

Nagoya's strength lies in its central location, offering quick access to anywhere. This allows it to function as a tourism hub for Japan, attracting tourists who stay in Nagoya and travel to other parts of the country. We are thinking of this as a two-pronged approach: the Golden Route within Japan and connecting Centrair with Asia.

To accommodate wealthy visitors from Europe, the United States, and Australia, construction of luxury hotels is underway in Nagoya, and Nagoya's lack of luxury hotels will soon be greatly improved.

Furthermore, to make Nagoya Castle more accessible to local residents and to invigorate events held within the castle, I would like to make admission to the castle free, with only the castle tower being a paid attraction. Furthermore, as the area will be the setting for a taiga drama in 2026, I am also planning a tourism campaign featuring warlords and the construction of a taiga drama museum.

In order to further grow and develop Nagoya as an international tourist city, I would like the public and private sectors to work together to attract inbound tourists.