TBM Staff - Mumbai Japan welcomed a million more foreign visitors in the first half of 2024 compared to pre-pandemic levels, logging a new record of 17.78 million, the Japan National Tourism Organization said.
The weak yen is attracting large crowds to Japan, with many tourists splashing out on everything from kimonos to knives and pricey meals.
The January-June figure beat the previous high from 2019 of 16.63 million, with the influx prompting locals at hot spots such as Kyoto and Mount Fuji to raise overtourism concerns.
By country, South Korean visitors to Japan topped the chart at 4.4 million in the six-month period. China was second at around 3 million, five times as many as in the same period last year.
Visitors from Taiwan were in third place and the United States in fourth.
Over the whole of 2023, 25 million visitors came to Japan, after strict pandemic-era border restrictions were lifted.
The country has set an ambitious goal of attracting 60 million tourists a year by 2030 — around double 2019’s full-year record of 31.88 million.
Last month, Ichiro Takahashi, head of the Japan National Tourism Organization, called the target “a figure that we can very much achieve by making the right efforts.”
“There are still many little-known places in Japan that are left unexplored by tourists from overseas — I believe Japan has infinite tourism resources,” he told reporters.
The government will introduce a new preclearance system from next January, starting with tourists from Taiwan, NHK reported. Visitors will be able to complete most of their immigration screening before departure to help shorten the time taken for entry procedures on arrival, according to the report.
The slump in the yen has turned Japan from a pricey bucket-list trip to a relatively inexpensive tourism and shopping destination. The government declared at a meeting to promote tourism held Friday that JYP 8 trillion ($50.7 billion) of spending by foreign visitors is within sight in 2024. (Source: AFP)
