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- Japan Airlines is offering free domestic flights to tourists from the US and other select countries.
- Tourists must book round-trip international flights with Japan Airlines to qualify.
- Tokyo saw record international visitors in 2023, boosting tourism expenditure to $37 billion.
Japan is a popular spot for tourists, and a new initiative will make it easier – and more affordable – to visit than ever before.
Japan Airlines is offering free domestic flights to tourists from the US, Canada, Mexico, Thailand, Australia, and New Zealand, according to a recent announcement on its website.
It will also be available for tourists from Vietnam, the Philippines Indonesia, India, China, and Taiwan.
In order to claim the free tickets, passengers must book round-trip international flights with the same airline and the domestic flights must be booked in the same reservation as the international flights.
A stopover fee of $100 will be charged to travelers from the US, Canada, Mexico, and China who plan to stay in their first destination for more than 24 hours.
A spokesperson for Japan Airlines told Business Insider that "no end date has been set" for the initiative.
The new initiative means lesser-known cities and towns will become more accessible.
Grace Cheng, a travel blogger based in New York, previously told BI that tourists visiting Japan often make the mistake of only going to the capital, Tokyo, which doesn't fully represent how broad and versatile the culture is.
Tokyo has become increasingly popular in recent years. In 2023, the number of international visitors to the city reached a record high of 19.54 million, according to data tracking website Statista.
That same year, the value of tourism expenditure by international visitors was around 5.31 trillion Japanese yen, or around $37 billion, the website said.
"Tokyo is not Japan," Cheng said. "And you need to explore the other cities to actually have a sense of what Japan is like."
Cheng recommends visiting Sapporo in the Hokkaido prefecture in the north of Japan. She said it is often more affordable than the capital and has friendly locals.
Meanwhile, Harper's Bazaar Singapore suggests visiting Kanazawa on the east coast of Japan's Honshu island for its Edo-era architecture, historic teahouses, and traditional Japanese artists, also known as geishas.
The outlet also named several other popular locations, including Naoshima, an island town in the Seto Inland Sea.