March 16, 2016
The number of tourist visits to Japan for 2015 is 19.73 million, which has broken the 45 years record for incoming travelers. The figures have also surpassed the outbound influx of people in the nation. Expenditure by tourists was as high as ¥3.48 trillion. As per market research, by 2020, the region will attract at least 20 million foreigners to their land. The government is beginning to reshape strategies for making peoples’ stay as comfortable as possible to continue this upward trend.

The19.73 million visitors have marked 47.3% rise from 14.41 million people entering Japan in 2014. The increase has been four times from 2003’s figure of 5.21 million, when the campaign, ‘Visit Japan’ began. According to the travel and tourism market research reports, the foreign visitors spending reached ¥3.48 trillion record, rising 71.5% from the 2014 quoted statistics. This depicts that Japan’s inbound tourism size now is similar to auto parts exports, as per tourism officials. This growth may continue for many years.

Tourists’ Influx Ratio in Japan 2014-2016

Experts are cautious as a rapid growth may bring some uncertainties in the nation’s economy. The Chinese regions such as Osaka and Tokyo have already reached capacities for adjusting the foreign travelers’ influx. As found in travel and tourism market analysis, growth of visitors to Japan in 2016 will be around moderate. But, it would be difficult to receive such expansion all throughout as like approx 20 million mark seen in 2015, as in opinion of Keiichi Ishii, the tourism minister. The Japan National Tourism Organization reveals that China travelers to the nation topped the list for tourists in 2015.
Thus, about 4.99 million Chinese travelers came to Japan. The figures were greater than twice the amount in 2014. It was followed by South Korea (4 million tourists), Taiwan (3.67 million), and Hong Kong (1.52 million). This unprecedented increase is because of many factors. One being the mushrooming of middle-class folks in China, the other is an overwhelming desire of the people to travel overseas. For such people, it is considerable to travel to Japan as it seems to their best bargain due to yen depreciation.

2015 Shopping Expenditure by Tourists

Domestic measures are becoming flexible to seem more accommodating. There are eased visa rules, improved airport access, and more of duty-free shopping allowed. Travelers from the United States are also fifth-largest market, which hiked by 15.9 percent at 1.03 million. It was the first that that so many American travelers traveled topping the mark of 1 million. But, Chinese spend the most, and they had a share of 40.8 spending from ¥3.5 trillion expended by the foreign visitors.
The spending was seconded by Taiwanese at 15 percent, South Koreans (8.7 percent), and Hong Kong (7.6 percent). The consumptions were ¥808 billion in the year of 2015, which was then a biggest spending in Japan for the relevant industry. It was followed by Taiwanese shoppers, with a spending of ¥218 billion. The officials are trying to make Japanese inns productive to suit foreign travelers, as for now, the standards are not much feasible. But, the country is doing all to bring in positive changes.