Foreign Visitors to Japan Top 30 M. at Fastest Pace

Tokyo, Oct. 15 (Jiji Press)–The number of foreign visitors to Japan in January-September exceeded 30 million, passing the line at the fastest pace ever, the Japan National Tourism Organization said Wednesday. The figure jumped 17.7 pct from the same period last year to 31,650,500. It crossed the 30-million mark one month earlier than in the previous year, when the annual total hit a record high of 36.87 million, according to the JNTO This year, the figure may exceed 40 million for the first time, with the autumn foliage season and Christmas holidays coming up. According to preliminary figures released by the Japan Tourism Agency, spending by foreign visitors to Japan between July and September was 2,131 billion yen, up 11.1 pct from a year earlier. The cumulative spending total from January to September reached 6,915.6 billion yen. In July-September, foreign visitors’ spending on travel was 219,428 yen per person, almost unchanged from a year before. Their spending on accommodation rose 7.9 pct to 80,972 yen per person, while spending on shopping fell 11.4 pct to 54,631 yen. In September alone, 3,266,800 foreign nationals are estimated to have visited Japan, up 13.7 pct from the same month last year. It was the first time for the figure to reach 3 million in September. By country or region, visitors from China marked the largest number, at 775,500, up 18.9 pct, in September, followed by those from South Korea at 670,500, up 2.1 pct, those from Taiwan at 527,000, up 12 pct, and those from the United States at 224,700, up 17.1 pct. The number of visitors to Japan “continues to be on a strong upward trend,” said Japan Tourism Agency Commissioner Shigeki Murata. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]