One in four international visitors visits Japan as a member of a group tour - Japan Tourism Agency survey

Japan Tourism Agency released the annual report on inbound travelers’ spending trend in Japan for 2015. Spending by international visitors in Japan in 2015 increased by 71.5% year on year to 3,477 billion JPY in total, and spending per capita was also up 16.5% to 176,167 JPY. Both of the results were record-high.

The average nights were 10.2 nights, and for a sightseeing or leisure purpose, it was 5.9 nights, according to the hearing survey to international visitors. Long-stay travels of 10 or more nights were found in travelers from India, Europe, Canada or Australia.

The first timers to Japan were the most with a share of 41.3%, followed by second time (17%). The share of ten or more times was 13.8% of the total, and by market, the shares were particularly high in Hong Kong (21.1%), Korea (19.4%), Taiwan (18.4%) and Russia (17.8%).

The tables below show the average nights and travel days in Japan by national:

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In terms of the booking trend, the largest share was found in individual bookings of air and accommodation (62.1%), followed by participation in a group tour created by a travel company (25.6%) and a packaged product for FIT (12.3%). The average payments were 89,970 JPY for individual bookings, 149,276 JPY for a group tour and 137,300 JPY for a packaged product.

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The satisfaction rate (incl. very satisfied and satisfied) in traveling in Japan reached 90% of the total. The ‘very satisfied’ rates were up 1.1 points among travelers from Taiwan and 3.6 points among those from China, while down 1.0 points among those from Korea and 3.0 points among those from U.S.A.

The ratio of travelers who hope to visit again in the future was up 0.3 points to 57.9%, and the ratios were higher among travelers from Taiwan and China. The popular activities included Japanese foods, shopping, nature exploration, onsen (hot spring) and walking towns.

The hearing survey was conducted in about 20 international airports and seaports by quarter. The total number of samples was 9,710 of 21 nationals.

In Japanese

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