Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism reported that Japanese cruise travelers (overnight cruises on both foreign and Japanese companies’ ships) were up 27% year on year to 315,000 in 2017. Japanese cruise travelers touring overseas destinations (including Fly & Cruise) were up 27.4% to 197,000, which consisted of 187,000 on foreign companies’ ships (+30%) and 9,000 on Japanese companies’ ships (-9.1%), and guest nights also up 13.5% to 1.35 million in total.
Japanese cruise travelers touring in Japan were up 26.4% t0 119,000, and guest nights up 34.4% to 311,000 in total.
The graph below shows yearly changes of Japanese cruise travelers since 1989:
International cruise travelers into Japan were also up 27% to record-high 2,529,000, as port calls totaled record-high 2,764 (+37%), which comprised 2,013 by foreign companies’ ships and 751 by Japanese companies’ ships. International cruise travelers joining overseas cruises based on Japan were up 46.8% to 40,000.
