Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism announced that foreign visitors to Japan on cruise ships increased by 2.7 times year on year to record-high 1,116,000 in 2015, achieving the government goal of 1 million five years earlier than the target year of 2020. Port calls totaled record-high 1,452 including 965 by foreign country-based cruise ships.
The ministry continues making an effort to attract more cruise ships because they carry many tourists at once, which may contribute to an increase in local spending in a port city and neighborhoods.
The table below shows change of port calls of cruise ships after 2010:
The port with the most port calls of foreign country-based cruise ships was Hakata with 245 port calls (99 in 2014), followed by Nagasaki with 128 (70 in 2014), Naha with 105 (68 in 2014). The table below shows top 10 ports with port calls of foreign country-based cruise ships in the last six years:
Even including Japan-based cruise ships, Hakata was the busiest port with 259 port calls (115 in 2014), followed by Nagasaki with 131 (75 in 2014) and Yokohama with 125 (146 in 2014). One of the trends was an increase in cruise ships stopping by ports in Kyushu. The table below shows top 10 ports with port calls of combined foreign country-based and Japan-based cruise ships in the last six years:
The result is based on overnight cruises including off-shore anchorages, except day trip cruises.
In Japanese
