Asian nation welcomed document 36.8 million guests in 2024, tourism company says.
Japan welcomed probably the most guests in historical past in 2024, because the nation’s weak foreign money fuelled a tourism increase, based on official figures.
Greater than 36.8 million individuals visited the Asian nation for enterprise or leisure final yr, estimates from the Japan Nationwide Tourism Group confirmed on Wednesday.
The figures far surpass 2019’s document of almost 32 million arrivals and examine with 25.07 million guests in 2023.
Spending by international guests surged to eight.14 trillion yen ($51.78bn), a 53 p.c rise from the earlier yr.
The increase in arrivals has been spurred, partly, by the slumping worth of the yen, which at one level final yr was buying and selling at a 40-year low in opposition to the US greenback.
Whereas the inflow of tourists has delivered a lift to Japan’s financial system after a long time of stagnation, the surge in arrivals has additionally prompted pushback amongst locals.
Earlier this week, town authorities of Kyoto, considered one of Japan’s hottest locations, introduced that it might hike resort lodging taxes to as a lot as 10,000 yen ($63) per night time as a part of efforts to deal with over-tourism considerations.
Kyoto Mayor Koji Matsui mentioned the elevated tax take could be spent on bettering infrastructure corresponding to roads and bridges in order that residents may “tangibly really feel” that welcoming guests improves their lives.
The transfer got here after officers within the historic capital final yr banned vacationers from coming into alleyways within the conventional district of Gion following stories of tourists harassing geishas.
Different Japanese municipalities have additionally proposed measures to deal with complaints about strained infrastructure and disrespectful vacationers.
In June, the mayor of Himeji, Hideyasu Kiyomoto, brought about a stir when he mentioned he would take into account charging foreigners six instances as a lot as locals to enter town’s UNESCO-listed fort.
Regardless of the surge in arrivals, Japan nonetheless receives far fewer vacationers per capita than main vacationer locations corresponding to France, Italy and Spain.
Underneath the Japanese authorities’s tourism blueprint, officers hope to draw 60 million guests a yr by 2030.
