NATIONAL NEWS
By Thomas Shomaker
January 2024 inbound numbers have been released, and they bode well for Japan’s tourism industry.
2,688,100 foreign visitors came to Japan in January, virtually the exact same number of such arrivals in 2019, the last January before the onset of Covid.
The January inbound statistics were released on 21 February by the Japan National Tourism Association, which recently reported record-high December visitorship for 2023.
Many inbound groups came in record numbers for January, including visitors from the United States, Singapore, Indonesia and the Middle East, among others.
South Korea, Taiwan and Australia inbound numbers were record highs for any single month.
With the exceptions of Italy and Spain, European inbound numbers were below 2019, as were visitors from mainland China, whose numbers were nearly 45% lower than in 2019.
The January numbers are particularly strong in light of some factors very early in the year that presumably would have a negative impact on inbound tourism, like the 1 January Noto Earthquake and the 2 January Haneda Airport runway collision.
In anticipation of increased demand, Japan’s international airlines have been increasing their international and domestic flights for 2024, as inbound tourists are being incentivised to visit regional areas outside of the Osaka-Kyoto-Tokyo corridor.
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