For the fourth consecutive month, foreign tourists visiting Japan exceeded 2 million in September.
According to JNTO (the Japan National Tourism Organization), 2.18 million people traveled to Japan from abroad last month, slightly more than the previous month. This figure represents 96.1 percent of foreign tourists in 2019 before the global coronavirus pandemic.
More Visitors from USA, South Korea, and Singapore
Japan had some of the strictest coronavirus entry restrictions in the world, which were gradually eased a year ago. All restrictions were removed in May, and since then, inbound tourism has been recovering increasingly fast, with 2.32 million foreign tourists already traveling to Japan in July.
According to the JNTO, visitors from 15 countries, including the U.S., South Korea, and Singapore, reached a new record in September. The number of travelers from Mexico also broke records for the month.
Fewer Chinese Are Coming to Japan
Despite the number of travelers from mainland China still being 60% lower than in 2019, strong demand from other markets compensates for the loss. Previously, Chinese tourists accounted for almost one-third of all tourists and 40% of all tourist spending in Japan, but the ban on group travel has since been lifted. However, poor relations between Japan and China have continued to affect tourism. In the first nine months, over 17 million people traveled to Japan, according to the JNTO. This is still far from the record of around 32 million people in 2019.