Japan Tourism Agency reported that guest nights in April 2016 (the secondary preliminary result) were up 1.7% year on year to 38.5 million in total, which was record-high for April since the survey began in 2007. The first preliminary result for May 2016 was down 5.6% to 40.5 million guest nights.
The total in April consisted of 7 million foreigner guest nights (+10.1%) and 31.5 million Japanese guest nights (unchanged), and the total in May consisted of 5.78 million foreigner guest nights (+3.6%) and 34.7 million Japanese guest nights (-7.0%). The downturn in May probably resulted from reduction of travelers to Kyushu due to the Kumamoto Earthquake.
The table below shows monthly changes of guest nights in the past twp years:
The occupancy rate nationwide in April 2016 was 58.4%, which was record-high for April. Also, the rates were 53.9% for resort hotels, 73.9% for budget hotels and 33.5% for ryokans, all of which were record-high for April.
By prefecture, Osaka still recorded the high occupancy rate of 86.2%, despite slightly lower than 87.8% in March 2016. In Kyoto, the rates were 92.9% for city hotels and 89.4% for budget hotels, both of which were the highest nationwide. Also, the highest rates were found in Nara for resort hotels (87.5%), Tokyo for ryokans (60.5%) and Osaka for simple lodging (69.9%).
In reverse, the occupancy rate in Kyushu dropped by 7.1% to 51.4%, negatively affected by the Kumamoto Earthquake, and the rates were particularly lower for resort hotels (-12.6%) and city hotels (-8.4%). Also, the rate in Oita, the prefecture damaged by the earthquake, was down 14.5% to 39.1%.
The map below shows the occupancy rates by prefecture in April 2016:
In Japanese
