DMO Kyoto revealed that the occupancy rate of 110 hotels in Kyoto City in April 2023 was up 33.1 points year on year to 78% mainly because of rapid recovery of international visitors after the border open and the Easter vacation in Europe or U.S. The monthly rate, however, did not reach 89.9% in April 2019 due to slow recovery of the China market.
Japanese guest nights totaled 367,824, which was 8.7% fewer nights than a year ago or 40% more nights than 2019. DMO Kyoto analyzed that the year-on-year reduction resulted from earlier cherry blooming than usual.
International guest nights were up 44.3% year on year to 313,203, which were even 22.9% more guest nights than April 2019. The ratio of international guest nights largely rose from 37.5% in March 2023 to 55.1% in April, the first over 50% since October 2019. The largest source market was U.S. with the ratio of 23%, followed by Taiwan with 8.7% and Australia with 6.8%.
The average room price was 22,451 JPY, which were 57.5% higher than a year ago or 0.5% lower than four years ago.
Meanwhile, the occupancy rate of 27 major ryokans in Kyoto City was 65.8%, 10 higher points than the previous month or 13.4 lower points than April 2019.
DMO Kyoto forecasted as of April that the occupancy rate will be 72.2% in May, 72.3% in June and 68.9% in July, all of which are lower than the same months of 2019 due to slow recovery of Chinese travelers.