Asian nation welcomed file 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 growth, in response to official figures.
Greater than 36.8 million folks 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 file of practically 32 million arrivals and evaluate with 25.07 million guests in 2023.
Spending by overseas guests surged to eight.14 trillion yen ($51.78bn), a 53 p.c rise from the earlier yr.
The growth 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 economic system after a long time of stagnation, the surge in arrivals has additionally prompted pushback amongst locals.
Earlier this week, town authorities of Kyoto, certainly one of Japan’s hottest locations, introduced that it could hike resort lodging taxes to as a lot as 10,000 yen ($63) per night time as a part of efforts to handle over-tourism issues.
Kyoto Mayor Koji Matsui stated the elevated tax take could be spent on enhancing infrastructure comparable to roads and bridges in order that residents might “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 experiences of tourists harassing geishas.
Different Japanese municipalities have additionally proposed measures to handle complaints about strained infrastructure and disrespectful vacationers.
In June, the mayor of Himeji, Hideyasu Kiyomoto, precipitated a stir when he stated he would take into account charging foreigners six instances as a lot as locals to enter town’s UNESCO-listed citadel.
Regardless of the surge in arrivals, Japan nonetheless receives far fewer vacationers per capita than main vacationer locations comparable to France, Italy and Spain.
Below the Japanese authorities’s tourism blueprint, officers hope to draw 60 million guests a yr by 2030.
