The Japan National Tourism Organization (JNTO) released a report on Friday (19th) showing that the number of foreign visitors to Japan in June reached 3.1356 million, an increase of 51.2% compared to the same period last year. This marks a record high for a single month and the fourth consecutive month of setting a new historical peak. It is also 8.9% higher than the same period in 2019 before the COVID-19 pandemic.
In the first half of 2024 (January to June), the total number of inbound tourists reached 17.772 million, the highest level ever recorded. This represents a 65.9% increase compared to the same period last year, with 10.7 million visitors, and a 6.9% increase compared to the same period in 2019, with 16.63 million visitors.
The number of visitors from 18 countries and regions set a new record in June, including South Korea, Hong Kong, India, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, and Italy.
Among them, South Korea had the highest number of visitors at 703,300, followed by 660,900 from mainland China, 574,500 from Taiwan, and 296,400 from the United States. Both Taiwan and the United States set new records for the highest number of visitors in a single month.
The depreciation of the Japanese yen is a major factor attracting tourists to Japan. In addition, the recovery in the number of tourists from mainland China has also driven overall growth. Compared to the first half of last year, the number of Chinese visitors to Japan has increased fivefold. However, this number is still more than 30% lower than the 4.53 million visitors before the outbreak of COVID-19 in 2019.
On Friday (19th), the Japan Tourism Agency (JTA) released preliminary survey data showing that total visitor spending for the first half of the year reached 3.9 trillion Japanese yen (approximately $24.8 billion), setting a new record high. This represents a 73.5% increase compared to the same period last year and a 68.6% increase compared to 2019.
At the 24th Tourism Ministerial Meeting held at the Prime Minister’s Office on the same day, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida reiterated the goals set by the Japanese government to achieve by 2030, which are to have 60 million visitors to Japan and tourist spending of 15 trillion yen (approximately $95.3 billion).
Kishida stated that to achieve this goal, efforts are needed to develop initiatives to “promote regional attractions for tourists” and to “prevent and curb excessive tourism”. Enhanced measures will be taken to guide inbound tourists to regional tourist spots.