Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism announced that international cruise travelers to Japan increased by 78.5% year on year to record-high 1.99 million in 2016. Port calls in Japan were 1,444 by Japan-based cruise ships and 2.018 by foreign-based cruise ships, both of which were record-high as well.
The Japanese government sets a goal of 5 million international cruise travelers by 2020 under the national tourism vision, which was announced in March 2016.
The table below shows change of port calls in the last seven years:
The most port calls by foreign-based cruise ships were found in Hakata with 312 (245 in 2015), followed by Nagasaki with 190 (128 in 2015) and Naha with 183 (105 in 2015).
For both foreign-based and Japan-based cruise ships, the busiest port was also Hakata with 28 port calls (259 in 2015), followed by Nagasaki with 197 (131 in 2015) and Naha with 193 (115 in 2015).
The table below shows top 10 ports in the last seven years:
