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Arrivals to Japan continue to grow
Media release – Japan National Tourist Organization – August 8, 2008
International arrivals to Japan have continued to grow with numbers for the first half of 2008 up 10 per cent on last year’s figures. According to preliminary figures released by the Japan National Tourist Organization (JNTO), a total of 4,337,400 international travelers visited Japan during the January to June period.
Japan is registering record numbers of Australian arrivals, with figures for the month of June reaching 18,000, and for the January to June period 125,900 - a 19.4 per cent increase on the same period last year.
Australia now ranks as the sixth major contributor of visitor numbers to Japan, ahead of the UK and Canada, and behind South Korea, Taiwan, China, USA and Hong Kong.
Favourable exchange rates and almost zero inflation in Japan have contributed to making the country an even more affordable destination for travelers.
“We are delighted to see more Australian travelers visiting Japan,” said JNTO Sydney office Executive Director, Jotaro Horiuchi. “The number of Australians who made Japan their holiday destination more than tripled in the four years from 2003 to 2007. The reasons for this increase include the popularity of skiing, recognition of Japanese culture and cuisine, depreciation of the yen, and greater use of English in Japan”.
Tourism in Japan’s winter months has been helped along by the increase in Australians visiting Japan’s ski fields.
“The ski market has grown significantly,” Horiuchi said. “According to JNTO figures, during the 2006/07 season we had about 20,000 Australian skiers visit Japan and during the season which has just ended, we had more than 30,000 Australian skiers.”
Visitor numbers to Japan have been increasing steadily since the launch in 2003 of the Visit Japan Campaign (VJC), a Japanese government initiative aiming to attract 10 million visitors per year to Japan by 2010. In 2005, Australia became a target market for the campaign and Australian visitor numbers have been increasing since.