EY Strategy and Consulting (EYSC) has released the latest tourism report ‘Toward Building a Sustainable Inbound Market.’ The report, based on individual data from the "Inbound Consumption Trends Survey" published by the Japan Tourism Agency, analyzes and organizes the behavior, consumption patterns, and regional dispersion of tourists by number of visits.
First-time visit portfolio
Over the source markets, the first-time visit rate is around 35%. The report says that the repeater rate may reach 65% in the future and exceed the governmental goal of 40 million repeaters if the current rate continues.
The first-time visit rates vary with source markets. The rates have decreased in South Korea and have been around 10% in Taiwan and Hong Jong since the pandemic. The rate of China is still around 40%.
The first-time visit rates in Southeast Asia are around 30% in Thailand and around 20% in Singapore, while the rates are still high in Philippines and Vietnam, which are potential markets for the future repeaters.
The first-time visit rates in Europe, North America and Australia are higher than those in East Asia and Southeast Asia, like around 60% in U.S., around 50% in Australia or over 60% in UK and France.
Repeaters and spending
Looking at the number of nights stayed by region, East Asia and Southeast Asia show roughly the same or slight increases between the first visit and subsequent visits.
In contrast, Europe, North America, and Australia show an increasing trend in both length of stay and spending as visitors become repeat customers. Australia is characterized by higher experiential spending than other regions, and the UK shows a significant increase in accommodation spending from the fourth visit onwards.
Regarding the relation between the weak yen and the travel budget, the perceived budget in local currency has remained flat or decreased in many markets in the last three years or so. The report accordingly says that an evaluation considering exchange rates is important when interpreting the increase in spending visible in yen.
Considering the gap between the ‘median exchange rate of 135 yen,’ which domestic companies consider appropriate, and the average exchange rate of ‘approximately 150 yen’ in 2025, if the exchange rate approaches the appropriate level, a simple calculation suggests a potential impact of 945.4 billion yen.
Travels to local areas by reporters
Repeaters from East Asia, except China, tend to visit local areas in Japan. Taiwanese tourists tend to travel to local areas even when they visit Japan for the first time.
Visits to regional areas by repeaters from Europe, North America and Australia are slightly increasing. While Australia and UK have slightly higher visit rates in local areas, US tends not to see a significant increase even in twice or more visits to Japan.
