Japan’s vacationer arrivals hit all-time excessive as weak foreign money attracts plenty – INA NEWS

Japan welcomed essentially the most guests in historical past in 2024, because the nation’s weak foreign money fuelled a tourism increase, in response to official figures.

Greater than 36.8 million folks visited the Asian nation for enterprise or leisure final 12 months, estimates from the Japan Nationwide Tourism Group confirmed on Wednesday.

The figures far surpass 2019’s document of almost 32 million arrivals and evaluate with 25.07 million guests in 2023.

Spending by international guests surged to eight.14 trillion yen ($51.78bn), a 53 % rise from the earlier 12 months.

The increase in arrivals has been spurred, partly, by the slumping worth of the yen, which at one level final 12 months was buying and selling at a 40-year low in opposition to the US greenback.

Whereas the inflow of tourists has delivered a lift to Japan’s economic system after a long time of stagnation, the surge in arrivals has additionally prompted pushback amongst locals.

Earlier this week, town authorities of Kyoto, one among Japan’s hottest locations, introduced that it could hike lodge lodging taxes to as a lot as 10,000 yen ($63) per evening as a part of efforts to handle over-tourism considerations.

Kyoto Mayor Koji Matsui stated the elevated tax take can be spent on enhancing infrastructure akin to roads and bridges in order that residents may “tangibly really feel” that welcoming guests improves their lives.

The transfer got here after officers within the historic capital final 12 months banned vacationers from coming into alleyways within the conventional district of Gion following stories of tourists harassing geishas.

Different Japanese municipalities have additionally proposed measures to handle complaints about strained infrastructure and disrespectful vacationers.

In June, the mayor of Himeji, Hideyasu Kiyomoto, brought on a stir when he stated he would contemplate charging foreigners six instances as a lot as locals to enter town’s UNESCO-listed fortress.

Regardless of the surge in arrivals, Japan nonetheless receives far fewer vacationers per capita than main vacationer locations akin to France, Italy and Spain.

Beneath the Japanese authorities’s tourism blueprint, officers hope to draw 60 million guests a 12 months by 2030.