Luggage delivery services ease overtourism strain

NAGOYA, Japan >> Hands-free luggage services, which allow international visitors to Japan to travel light, are growing, with luggage being checked in at airports and train stations and delivered to visitors’ accommodations or destinations the same day.

The number of foreign visitors to Japan last year reached an estimated record high of 36.87 million, and the increase caused congestion in public spaces as tourists’ suitcases blocked passages at train stations and on trains.

As a result, the luggage service initiative has been viewed as a means to combat the negative effects of overtourism.

In January, Central Japan International Airport Co. and Nagoya Railroad Co. are among the businesses that conducted a test of baggage storage services for tourists on flights to Hong Kong.

At a drop-off point near Meitetsu Nagoya Station, staff weighed bags and checked for dangerous items when passengers on direct flights to Hong Kong and flights to Hong Kong via Taipei deposited their luggage.

The luggage was tagged and placed on an express train to Central Japan International Airport Station. Those who used the service received their baggage at the Hong Kong and Taipei airports. The delivery fee was 3,000 yen (about $20.50) per item. Users said they were grateful for the service and thought the fee was acceptable.

When the Sapporo Snow Festival was held in February in Hokkaido, a similar test was conducted in Nobo­ribetsu for passengers on domestic flights departing from New Chitose Airport.

Tourists enjoyed the festival and other attractions after leaving their baggage — for 2,000 yen per item — at a drop-off point in front of JR Nobo­ribetsu Station, the closest station to the Noboribetsu Onsen resort. The luggage was sent to destinations such as Tokyo and Osaka, and customers received their baggage at airports.

In all cases, the customers were able to monitor the location of their baggage via an app available in Japanese, English and Chinese.

“It’s necessary to separate people and baggage to reduce congestion and ease local traffic,” said Kazuo Mizuno, the director of the NPO Alliance of Research for Advanced Technology at Airports.

Railroad operators also have embarked on baggage transportation services.

In January, Central Japan Railway Co. launched a service to transport visitors’ luggage from Tokyo to hotels in Kyoto and Osaka.

The service is available to guests staying at hotels affiliated with Mi­tsui Fudosan Co.

Many European and U.S. passengers traveling between Tokyo and Kyoto have used the service, and reservations have gone well, according to the company.