Record High of Foreign Travelers

The government of Japan released the result of its survey on foreign travelers visiting Japan in 2024. The visitors increased by half from the previous year, marking a record high. They spent their money in purchasing goods and services in Japan, which went beyond 8 trillion yen for the first time. While Japanese economy became dependent on inbound travelers, it gets unignorable that the activities of foreign visitors affect ordinary life of the Japanese people. 

According to the press release of Japan National Tourism Organization (JNTO), foreign travelers came to Japan last year were 36.8 million, increasing by 47.1 percent from 2023. It marked the biggest record exceeding the number in 2019, just before prevalence of COVID-19. While the government set a goal of catching up the pre-COVID level in 2025, it achieved that one year earlier.

 

Japan accepted more travelers than the previous years in the season of cherry blossoms and autumn leaves. Each area well known with rich resource for tourism marked new record of foreign travelers in the months of peak season. Increased are the travelers not only from East Asia, mainly South Korea, Taiwan or China, but from Southeast Asia, Europe, the United States, Australia and Middle East.

 

Japan Tourist Agency announced that the sum of consumption by foreign travelers to Japan in 2024 was 8.1 trillion yen, marking the record high with increase by 53.4 percent. Depreciation of Japanese yen contributed to active purchase of goods and services, encouraging businesses such as hotel, restaurant and other retailers. Value of Japanese yen historically declined in 2024, marking 161 yen per US dollar in July.

 

The country which sent most people to Japan in 2024 was South Korea with 8.8 million travelers. China follows it with 6.9 million and Taiwan with 6.0 million. However, the biggest buyers were the Chinese with consumption of 1.7 trillion yen, occupying 21 percent of all. Taiwan, South Korea, the United States and Hongkong followed it.

 

Although China has been suffering from economic decline, or has problem with Japan’s policy of discharging processed water from Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant to the Pacific Ocean, the Chinese travelers showed powerful purchases in Japan.

 

Increasing foreign travelers revealed the problem of shortage in human resource in the businesses related to tourism. Hotels and restaurants obtained manpower twenty percent less than their necessity. Wage in some rural resort area exceeds the level of that of urban offices in Tokyo. 

 

Too many travelers cause inconvenience of residents. People in Kyoto cannot ride buses occupied with foreign travelers. The City of Kyoto decided to raise tax on travelers. Town of Biei, Hokkaido, cut down birch trees, which are popular for the travelers to take photo, with disorder brought by clouded tourists.

 

When the income of consumption of foreign travelers is counted as a kind of export, the total amount of it exceeded export of semiconductors and steels, following car sales. The government of Japan targets 60 million of annual foreign travelers to Japan and 15 trillion of their consumption in 2030. But it is skeptical that Japan can have enough infrastructure for it.

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