The Japan National Tourism Organization (JNTO)’s statistics in 2016 finds that Japan received 6,373,000 visitors from China (+27.6%), 1,839,200 from Hong Kong (+20.7%), 5,090,300 from Korea (+27.2%) and 4,167,400 from Taiwan (+13.3%). Visitors from all of the markets were record-high and accounted for 72.7% of the total.
The table below shows changes of visitors from the four markets for the last decade:
In December 2016 only, visitors from Korea were up 18.9% year on year to 494,400, outnumbering 427,500 visitors from China (+23.2%) for the first time in the last 11 months. Japan received 278,700 visitors from Taiwan (+4.8%) and 189,800 visitors from Hong Kong (+20.6%).
The table below shows monthly changes of visitors from the four markets in 2016:
Through 2016, visitors from Korea stably reached 300,000 to 400,000 a month, and sales supports by JNTO were effective to recovery from Kumamoto Earthquake. Visitors from China resulted in making monthly records every month, especially boosted by increases in FIT and cruise ship travelers and extension of the air network.
Visitors from Taiwan also broke the previous records every month, boosted by extension of the air network, an increase in FIT and decentralization of travelers to local regions. In Hong Kong, promotional campaigns for Shikoku and Chugoku regions targeting regular travelers, extension of the LCC network and media-mixed promotions particularly contributed to the growth.
