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Reading the “White Paper on Tourism in Japan, 2013” (2): China Tops for the First Time for the International Travel Expenditure

Reading the “White Paper on Tourism in Japan, 2013” (2): China Tops for the First Time for the International Travel Expenditure

According to the “White Paper on Tourism in Japan, 2013” (“State of Tourism in FY 2012” and the “Tourism Policy in FY 2013”), the number of international travelers worldwide in 2012 was 1,035.00 million, an increase of approximately 4% on a year-to-year basis, exceeding 1,000.00 million first time ever (analyzed by UNWTO.) Looking at it by regions, Europe has the biggest market share in hosting international travelers with 51.6%, followed by Asia-Pacific (22.6%), America (15.7%), Africa (5.1%) and Middle East (5.0%.)

Also, looking at the composition ratios by country/area, France ranks 1st with 79.50 million, the United States 2nd with 62.33 million, China 3rd with 57.58 million, however Japan declined to 39th with 6.22 million due to the effect of the Earthquake. This ranks in 10th among Asia, behind countries/areas including Malaysia, Hong Kong, Thailand, Macao and Korea.

Looking at the balance of international travel by countries/areas, the United States earned most revenue (US$116.279 billion), followed by Spain (US$59.892 billion), France (US$53.845 billion) ranking in the 3rd and Japan (US$10.966 billion) ranking in the 28th. This is 10th among Asia meanwhile China (US$48.464 billion, 4th worldwide) ranks 1st. On the other hand, China (US$102 billion) came in 1st for the first time for the international travel expenditure, surpassing Germany (US$83.8billion) and the United States (US$83.7 billion.) Japan (US$27.9 billion) was the 8th in this category.