Japan National Tourism Organization (JNTO) reported that the number of international visitors in Japan was up 23.3% year on year, reaching 2,509,300 in February 2018 (record-high for February: 2,046,000 in February 2017).
The graphs below show the change in the number of international visitors in Japan for the past year:
The top market was China with 716,400 visitors (+40.7%), followed by Korea with 708,300 (+18.1%), Taiwan with 400,900 (+16.9%), and Hong Kong with 178,500 (+26.9%) visitors. Visitors from Greater China remarkably increased because Chinese New Year holidays shifted from January last year to February this year. The share of visitors from these four markets was 80% of the total.
Visitors from all of 20 targeting markets were record high for February. JNTO said that the market growth mainly resulted from extension of air network for Japan, an increase in cruises to Japan and effective promotional campaigns in each of the markets.
For each market, the number of visitor arrivals in January 2018 was:
