Japan National Tourism Organization (JNTO) announced that international visitors to Japan in April 2016 increased by 18% year on year to record-high 2,081,800 on a single month basis, exceeding 2 million for two months in a row.
The table below shows international visitor results by month:
The biggest international market was China with 514,900 visitors (+26.9%), followed by Taiwan with 384,200 (+14.6%) and Korea with 353,700 (+16.1%). Including Hong Kong, visitors from four East Asian markets accounted for 66.3% of the total. Visitors from Taiwan, Thailand, Indonesia, Philippine, Vietnam, India and France were record-high on a single month basis.
For the first four months of 2016, Japan received 1,987,000 from China (+49.5%), 1,733,500 from Korea (+38.4%) and 1,382,500 from Taiwan (+24.8%).
The table below shows visitor results by market:
In April, the cherry blossom season was one of the reasons for the healthy growth, although some negative influences from Kumamoto Earthquake were discovered. Also, successive promotional activities by JNTO, extension of air networks and an increase in cruise ships’ port calls contributed to the monthly growth.
JNTO said that it is necessary to watch what kind of influences will come from Kumamoto Earthquake in Kyushu after May.
In Japanese
