Chinese Visitors Biggest Inbound Spenders in Japan in 2025

Tokyo, Jan. 21 (Jiji Press)–Visitors from mainland China were the largest spenders among foreign visitors to Japan in 2025, at 2,002.6 billion yen, the Japan Tourism Agency said Wednesday. In October-December, however, spending by Chinese visitors shrank nearly 20 pct from a year earlier, reflecting Beijing’s call for citizens not to travel to Japan following Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s remarks about a potential Taiwan contingency. Total spending by all foreign visitors in the year jumped 16.4 pct to a record high of 9,455.9 billion yen, according to a preliminary report released the same day. In the Oct.-Dec. quarter, total spending grew 10.3 pct to 2,533 billion yen, thanks to the depreciation of the yen. Visitors from mainland China spent more than 500 billion yen on a quarterly basis in the first three quarters of 2025, but Takaichi’s remarks pushed down their consumption in the final quarter to 353.4 billion yen, down 17.9 pct year-on-year. Annual spending by visitors from mainland China grew 16.0 pct to make up over 20 pct of all inbound spending. Visitors from Taiwan were the second-largest inbound spenders, at 1,211 billion yen. “With a very difficult problem in the background, we will work on steady promotion efforts,” JTA Commissioner Shigeki Murata told a press conference Wednesday. The Japan National Tourism Organization said the same day that the total number of foreign visitors to Japan in 2025 rose 15.8 pct from the previous year to a record high of 42,683,600. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]