Japan Tourism Agency announced its latest guest night statistics for Japan in June 2017 (secondary report). Year on year, guest nights increased by 2.1%, reaching a total of 37.68 million nights including 31.52 million Japanese guest nights (+0.8%) and 6.16 million international guest nights (+17.3%). The monthly result of international guest nights for June was a record high.
The preliminary report for July 2017 suggests 45.58 million guest nights (+2.8%), including 37.96 million Japanese guest nights (+1.0%) and 7.6 million international guest nights (+13.1%).
The monthly growth of international guest nights in the countryside was 14.7%, much higher than the 6.5% in the 3 major urban areas: Tokyo, Kanagawa, Chiba, Saitama, Aichi, Osaka, Kyoto, and Hyogo.
The nationwide occupancy rate was 58.3% in June and 63.2% in July. The number of prefectures with an occupancy rate above 80% was: 7 in the case of "city hotels", 4 in the case of "budget hotels" and 1 in the case of "resort hotels". The occupancy rate in Osaka remained the highest (80%), with 88% for city hotels and for resort hotels.
International guests stayed 2.58 million nights (+23.4%) in the countryside and 3.92 million nights (+13.7%) in the 3 major urban areas. The growth rate in the countryside, significantly higher than in the 3 major urban areas, suggests a decentralization of the inbound market.
