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Japan welcomed a record 3.31 million visitors last month, official data showed on Wednesday, as the weak yen propelled a tourism boom that is pouring money into the nation’s coffers.
The number of foreign visitors for business and leisure rose from 2.87 million in September and exceeded the previous monthly record of 3.29 million set in July, data from the Japan National Tourism Organization (JNTO) showed.
Through October, about 30.2 million tourists have arrived in Japan, just shy of the annual record of 31.9 million set in 2019 before the COVID-19 pandemic shut global borders.
Japan’s famous autumn leaf colours contributed to increased tourism demand last month from many markets across Asia, Europe, and North America, the JNTO said. Through October, 11 countries and regions have surpassed annual records for sending visitors to Japan.
Travellers spent 5.86 trillion yen ($37.72 billion) in Japan through September of this year, preliminary figures showed last month. That eclipsed the 5.3 trillion yen they spent in all of 2023, a record for any 12-month period.
Tourism spending, classified as an export in national accounts, is poised to become Japan’s second-biggest export sector after autos and ahead of electronic components.
Earlier this year Dalia Feldman, marketing director for Tourist Japan, said her firm has seen an 11-fold increase in inquiries from India in the past year, while those from the United Arab Emirates are up almost eight fold.
“It appears it is the Japanese cuisine and natural sights that attract them the most,” Feldman said. “Most of our Indian and UAE customers will ask to include some more food tours in their itinerary as well as external trips to remote and scenic areas.”
The weak yen, languishing at a 34-year low against the dollar, is helping fuel a tourism boom in Japan. That’s good news for the economy, with travellers spending a record 1.75 trillion yen ($11.1 billion) in the first quarter of 2024, according to the JNTO.
But the influx has raised concerns of “overtourism” at visitor hot spots. The mayor of Himeji in western Japan floated the idea of charging foreigners three times the standard 1,000 yen fee to enter the city’s famous samurai-era castle, the Asahi newspaper reported.
In explaining new trail fees to curb overcrowding on Japan’s sacred Mt. Fuji, Yamanashi prefecture governor Kotaro Nagasaki told reporters this week the country should focus on attracting “higher spending visitors” over sheer masses of people.
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