The number of foreign tourists who visited Japan last year increased by more than 15 times from the previous year, but remained at a level of about 12% compared to 2019 before the spread of the new corona infection.
According to the Japan National Tourism Organization, an estimated 3.83 million foreign tourists visited Japan last year, an increase of more than 15 times from the previous year's 240,000.
In particular, the number of tourists from September to December, when the government's relaxation of border measures against the new corona began in earnest, accounted for nearly 80% of the total.
By country or region, South Korea has the highest number of foreigners who can travel without a visa, accounting for more than 1.01 million people, nearly 30% of the total.
This is followed by Taiwan with over 330,000 people and the United States with over 320,000 people.
However, the number of tourists from China, which accounted for 30% of the total in 2019 before the spread of infection, was low at about 180,000, and the total number of foreign tourists remained at the level of about 12% before the spread of infection. increase.
For this reason, the challenge for the future is how to develop an environment that accepts foreign tourists while taking sufficient infection control measures and how to capture inbound demand.