Tourists Are Swapping Their Japan Guide Books for Instagram
Photographer: Akio Kon/Bloomberg
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Tourism is booming in Japan, but a growing number of visitors are ditching their guidebooks for an app better known for celebrity snapshots and images of food: Instagram.
The social photo-sharing service is proving to be especially popular among those seeking destinations off the beaten track. Nagato, located on the southern tip of the main island of Honshu, saw more than 1 million visitors in 2017, a 36-fold increase in three years. After CNN profiled the town as one of “Japan’s 31 most beautiful places,” postings of the local shrine started to flood Instagram.