Japan National Tourism Organization (JNTO) announced that the number of international conferences held in Japan in 2016 was up 15.5% year on year to record-high 410. Japan and China were ranked 7th in the world and top in APAC and Middle East.
The table below shows international conferences in world’s top 10 destinations in the last decade:
The table below shows international conferences in APAC top 10 destinations in the last six years:
Japan succeeded in raising awareness as a MICE destination by inviting nine large-scale international conferences with 3,000 or more attendances in 2016, JNTO said. Also, Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics in 2020 and Rugby World Cup in 2019 help Japan improve its status as a MICE destination in the world.
Tokyo hosted 95 conferences, ranked 21st in the world, followed by 44th of Kyoto with 58 conferences and 100th of Osaka with 25 conferences. The table below shows the number of international conferences hosted by major cities in Japan in 2016:
The market share of Japan among five major APCA countries was 28%. While the market shares of Singapore and Australia have declined, the market shares of three East Asian countries including Japan have recently increased.
