NATIONAL NEWS
By Thomas Shomaker
December of 2023 saw 2,734,000 inbound visitors come to Japan, the most ever to arrive during the last month of the year.
The December figure was part of a 17 January report by Japan National Tourism Association on 2023 visitorship to the country.
2023 was the first full year Japan’s borders were normalised following Covid and overall tourism was 25,066,100 persons, about 21% less than the 31,882,049 who came in 2019, the last year before the pandemic.
Month by month increase
Although 2023 was a strong turnaround by any measure, looking at the numbers month by month reveals a story of rising recovery that eventually exceeded pre-Covid visitorship.
For instance, January 2023 inbound numbers were 44.3% less than January of 2019, probably due to the borders not opening till 11 October of 2022, meaning there was little time for travellers to make arrangements.
Following January 2023, The visitorship difference between 2019 and 2023 steadily shrunk, month by month, till October of 2023 saw a 0.8% increase over 2019 numbers.
From there, November 2023 was a was a statistical tie with 2019 and then December saw a significant increase, the most ever for that month.
Niseko and Kyoto in December 2023.
Changing demographics
South Korea visitorship more than tripled between June and October of 2023, ending at 6,958,500 for the year, the largest inbound demographic to Japan and 24.65% more than its visitorship in 2019.
China, which was one of the fastest growing inbound demographics in the years before Covid, accounted for 2,425,000 visitors in 2023, nearly 75% less than in 2019, most likely attributable to its delayed border normalisation and a shaky economy.
Visitorship from the United States rose by 18.7% compared to 2019, reaching a total of 2,045,900 as travellers took advantage of the favourable dollar to yen exchange rate.
What this means for 2024
While the visitorship from some regions, notably Europe, remains depressed compared to pre-Covid figures, if the month by month rise in tourism numbers that happened in 2023 continues, 2024 may be a record breaking year for visitorship to Japan.
The national government has a goal of increasing annual visitorship to 60 million by 2030.
Images:
Niseko – Niseko Tourism
Kyoto – Thomas Shomaker
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