Japan's tourist attraction "peak" will be reached in October 2023.
This is 21.4% lower than the pre-pandemic level in 2019, when Japan welcomed 31.88 million tourists from abroad.
However, this is the first time foreign tourist spending has exceeded 5 trillion yen since 2010 when data began to be compiled, a target the Japanese government has set as it steps up efforts to revive the tourism industry after the pandemic.
The surge was fueled by the lifting of Covid-19 travel restrictions and a weak yen, with tourist spending also rising to a record 5.29 trillion yen ($36 billion).
This time, statistics also show that the largest number of tourists came from Korea with 6.96 million arrivals, an increase of more than 6 times compared to 2022. Next is Taiwan (China) with 4.20 million arrivals, China with 2.43 million arrivals and Hong Kong (China) with 2.11 million arrivals.
Chinese visitors to Japan last year were significantly fewer than the 9.59 million in 2019, as Beijing eased travel restrictions later than other countries and the number of flights operating between the two countries did not increase significantly.
Meanwhile, the number of tourists from the US increased to 2.05 million, also six times higher than in 2022.
In terms of spending, Taiwanese (Chinese) tourists spent the most money with 778.6 billion yen, accounting for 14.7% of the total, followed by 759.9 billion yen from China and 744.4 billion yen from South Korea.
Of the total spending, the largest portion, 34.6 percent (1.8 trillion yen), was spent on accommodation. This was followed by shopping and dining expenses, at 1.4 trillion yen and 1.2 trillion yen, respectively.
The average spending per visitor to Japan was around 212,000 yen. Spanish visitors spent the most at around 342,000 yen, followed by Australian and Italian visitors. In Asia, Chinese visitors spent around 320,000 yen.
While the record spending figures are welcome news, Japan has faced a number of challenges. One of them is that tourists abuse the tax-free shopping program, profiting from reselling such items before leaving the country. This reality has forced the Japanese government to consider overhauling the tax-free system, including requiring tourists to only get tax refunds before they leave the country.
According to the data released this time, in December 2023 alone, the number of tourists to Japan reached 2.73 million, nearly double that of a year earlier and reaching a record high for the month.
The number of Japanese traveling abroad in 2023 also more than tripled to 9.62 million from a year earlier, but that was only half the number in 2019.
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