TBM Staff - Mumbai Japan welcomed a record number of visitors in December, official data showed on Wednesday, closing out a year of rapid recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.
The number of foreign visitors for business and leisure rose to 2.73 million last month from 2.44 million in November, data from the Japan National Tourism Organization (JNTO) showed. It was the highest-ever number of tourists for the month of December and about 8% higher than the pre-pandemic level seen in 2019.
For the full-year 2023, a little more than 25 million visitors arrived in Japan, the agency said.
Tourism to Japan all but halted for more than two years during the pandemic as the country put up some of the world’s strictest border controls. But arrivals bounced back quickly after the government resumed visa-free travel for many countries in October 2022.
Arrivals exceeded 2 million every month since June last year, boosted by a weakening in the yen that makes Japan cheaper compared to other
December saw record arrivals for any single month among people from Hong Kong, Singapore, and Australia, the JNTO said.
Inbound tourism has become a key part of Japan’s economic recovery, but a severe shortage of workers is hobbling the sector’s ability to keep up with demand.
