Japan Tourism Agency (JTA) recently reported that international regular travelers to Japan with 2 or more times visits were 17.61 million in 2017, about 3 million more travelers than 2016, which accounted for 61.4% of the total.
The country with the most regular travelers to Japan was Korea with the ratio of 30%, followed by Taiwan with 25%, China with 18% and Hong Kong with 13%. The ratio of regular travelers from the four countries and regions was 86%.
As for frequent regular travelers with 10 or more times visits, Hong Kong was the top with the ratio of 20%, followed by Taiwan with 15%. Half of Korean regular travelers have visited Japan at two to five times, and Chinese first-timer travelers accounted for 60%.
The JTA survey also finds that regular travelers tended to spend more money in their traveling than before. A Chinese traveler, for instance, spent 221,000 JPY in first time visit, 232,000 JPY in two to five times visit, 284,000 JPY in six to nine times visit and 302,000 JPY in ten or more times visit on average. The same trend can be found in travelers from Korea, Taiwan and Hong Kong, as regular travelers spent 20% to 40% more money in ten or more times visit than in the first time visit.
The ratio of regular travelers from Korea, Taiwan and Hong Kong who visited countryside of Japan (except Tokyo, Saitama, Chiba, Kanagawa, Osaka, Kyoto, Hyogo and Aichi) was high.
Things to do in Japan vary with visit frequencies. Interestingly, regular travelers from all of the four markets more preferred to drinking sake than before. For regular travelers from Taiwan and Hong Kong with ten or more times visit, the ratio of those who enjoyed onsen reached half of the total. Theme park was the top purpose to visit Japan for first timers from Korea, Hong Kong and China.
