Japan Bound

The number of international visitors to Japan in January 2024 was 2,688,1000, almost the same number as January 2019. Visitors from 10 source markets reached record-high for January.

‘FUN! JAPAN,' a community website for Asian travelers to Japan, launched a new SNS, which is a service for community members to enjoy conversations with simultaneous translation.

The total number of guest nights in December 2023 (provisionally) was up 9.4% year on year to 51.5 million, which were also up 9.3% compared to the same month of 2019. Foreigner travelers were up 32.3% to 12.1 million.

Asia-Pacific Institute of Research (APIR) estimated spending by visitors to EXPO 2025 Osaka Kansai at 891.3 billion JPY in a basic case, which of 224 billion JPY for transportation, 173.5 billion JPY for accommodation, 161.9 billion JPY for drinking and eating, 186.7 billion JPY for shopping and 145 billion JPY for entertainment.

JTB and Asahi Breweries, a Japanese leading brewery company, have started a collaboration project to create high-quality entertainments and tourism services in the nighttime for inbound travelers.

Narita International Airport passengers in 2023 was up 12% year on year to 32.7 million, out of which international flight passengers were up 77% to 25 million. Inbound travelers were up 270% year on year to 16 million (down 12% over 2019).

ANA has signed a strategic partnership agreement with Trip.com Group to increase travelers from China to Japan, opening a flagship shop and deliver LIVE commerce on Trip.com website and app.

According to Booking.com, among top 10 destinations that are still unknown but are getting popularity among Asian travelers, Japanese regions ranks 3rd to 10th. Top was Camariñas in Spain, followed by Mexico, Missouri, USA.

Spending in Japan by international travelers in 2023 increased by 9.9% to record-high 5,292 billion JPY compared to 2019. Taiwan was the top source market with 778.6 billion JPY.

The number of international visitors in Japan 2023 reached 25,066,100, almost 80% of the result in 2019 (31,882,049), adding 2,734,000 in December 2023. Compared to 2022, more than 20 million increased at once.

185 famous restaurants in Kyoto City offer respective winter-limited menus with their transparent price ranges espeically for inbound travelers.

Total number of guest nights in November 2023 (provisionally) was up 16.9% year on year to 53.6 million, which were up 7.9% compared to the same month of 2019. The share of foreigners’ guest nights was 22.8% of the total in October.

Tokyo Metro and YAMAHA will begin testing a new multi-language service ‘Visualized Announcement’ transcribing voice announcements in a station on a smartphone.

BRIDGE MULTILINGUAL SOLUTIONS has provided ‘free telephone interpretation service’ for foreigners living in Japan who have devastated by Noto Peninsula earthquake.

JTB has forecasted that the number of Japanese travelers in 2024 are expected to reach 287.5 million, and the number of inbound travelers will reach the most-ever 33.1 million, 31.3% more than a year ago or 3.8% more than 2019.

The number of international visitors in Japan in November 2023 reached 2,440,800, close to 2,441,274 in November 2019, totaling 22.3 million for the first 11 months of 2023.

According to NAVITIME Japan, a Japan’s leading navigation app, the most-searched tourist spot in 2023 was ‘Universal Studio Japan.' For foreigners, the top was ‘Fushimi Inari Taisha' in Kyoto.

Japanticket, an e-ticket management system provider, and Sapporo City signed a partnership agreement on promotion of business jet operation at Okadama Airport. Japanticket has performed several trial gastronomy tours using made-in-Japan HondaJet.

Hankyu Travel International, a major travel company of Japan, and NAVITIME JAPAN, a navigation app provider, will jointly develop tours for luxury inbound travelers.

Japan National Tourism Organization (JNTO) launched a special website for the Osaka Kansai Expo, expecting the Expo is an opportunity to encourage inbound tourists to visit regional areas.