NISEKO NEWS
By Thomas Shomaker
Photo by Aaron Jamieson
Niseko Tourism’s annual report for members shows that the region has strongly bounced back since Covid restrictions were lifted in October of 2022.
The 2022-2023 report, which was released on 12 September, details summer visitorship from May through October of 2022 and winter visitorship from November 2022 through April of 2023.
While the overall guest numbers and guest nights remain below the years leading up to the outbreak of Covid in 2020, the winter numbers strongly rebounded in response to the borders being opened just before the winter season began.
Over the summer and winter seasons, a total of 3.21 million guests visited Kutchan, Niseko and Rankoshi, compared to over 4.4 million in 2018-2019, the last report period unaffected by Covid.
In the summer of 2022, when the borders were still closed, nearly 1.48 million visitors came compared to over 2 million in the summer of 2019, and the composition of these guests was almost entirely Japanese.
While this was significantly lower than pre-pandemic numbers, it was much higher than the 1.1 million summer visitors in 2020 and the 1 million visitors in the summer of 2021, during the height of the pandemic.
In the winter of 2022-2023, 1.73 million visitors came, compared to over 2.15 million in the winter of 2018-2019.
Although below pre-pandemic numbers, virtually all of the winter foreign guests – which were 59% of the total – made their arrangements after borders were opened in October of 2022, indicating that coming seasons, summer and winter, will see greater numbers of inbound visitors.
Australia, at 18%, was the biggest demographic of inbound visitors for the 2022-2023 winter season, followed by Hong Kong (14%), Singapore (11%) and the United States (8%).
Inbound visitors from China, a pre-pandemic growing Niseko demographic, were just 2% of the 2022-2023 winter season, a result of China not abandoning its Zero-Covid policy till January of this year.
Other data in the report includes monthly snowfall and snow depth over the last 10 years and insights into the global economy and how it is affecting the Kutchan, Niseko and Rankoshi hospitality industry.
To access the full report, contact Niseko Tourism.
Niseko Tourism
Email: [email protected]
TEL: 0136-21-2551
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