TokyoTomo Travel Guide

Japan National Tourist Organization (JNTO) released an estimate of Japanese overseas travelers for March 2010 which reads 1,552,000, up 9.4 percent from last year, registering a growth following the month before last. JNTO attributes the growth to demand stimulation caused by flight increase on landing slot expansion at Narita Airport and subsequent new services entered by Etihad Airways, Emirates, and Air Macau. The strong trend of yen rate might have made people feel overseas travel is not so expensive.

Foreign visitors to Japan exhibited a positive growth for five consecutive months with 710,200 arrivals for March, up 24.9 percent. The jump for the month is partly due to the rebound from the sharp drop witnessed a year ago driven by appreciated yen and economic stagnation. The bolstered activities of Visit Japan Campaign (VJC) and broadcast of foreign-made TV dramas shot in Japan helped create travel demand to Japan. Among the major 12 markets, all countries except the U.K. outperformed the results of a year ago and China, Thailand, France, and Germany recorded all-time highs. The highest growth was attained by Korea with 56.3 percent (169,400 arrivals), followed by Singapore with 41.3 percent (13,500 arrivals) and China with 22.3 percent (123,500 arrivals).

Just for reference, total of the Japanese outbound travelers during the fiscal year 2009 (April 2009 through March 2010) numbered 15,601,114, down 1.0 percent, and that of foreign visitors to Japan was 7,247,917, down 6.7 percent. (Note the figures for February and March are preliminary in both cases.)

Source: Travel Vision

Travel Vision Inc. provides information on the travel industry in Japan via "Daily Travel Vision", a Japanese-language e-mail newsletter, and the "Travel Vision" website. There are nearly 110,000 people working in the Japanese travel industry, and Travel Vision is proud to be bringing travel news to more than 30,000 people through Daily Travel Vision.

Japan National Tourist Organization (JNTO) released a preliminary estimate of Japanese overseas travelers for February 2010 which reads 1,290.000, down 5.1 percent from last year, registering a decline for the first time in seven months. JNTO assumes depressed income growth in anemic economy and reinstatement of oil surcharge from October 2009 worked as negative factors. Some say the disasters caused by the earthquakes in Haiti and Chili and the torrential rain at Machu Picchu, Peru, gave negative impacts on the travelers’ psychology, though limited in extent.

Foreign visitors to Japan for the month shot up 62.9 percent to 665,600, extending the growth for the fourth straight month. The surge is regarded in some part as a rebound from a sharp drop of 41.3 percent to 408,800 visitors witnessed in the same month a year ago due to yen appreciation and economic downturn. Among the 12 major inbound markets, visitors from 10 markets other than Thailand and Germany exhibited a positive growth; China and Australia, in particular, marked the all-time highs for the month of February. In terms of growth, Hong Kong attained the biggest growth of 136.5 percent at 52,300 visitors, followed by Singapore with 113.6 percent (10,800 visitors) and China with 93.2 percent (121,700 visitors).

There were several contributing factors to the growths. Since New Year’s Day in Chinese calendar that many Asian countries celebrate came in February, visitor arrivals from Korea, Taiwan, China, Hong Kong, and Singapore were in high numbers. Besides, TV dramas and films produced in Korea and China that picked up Japan as the shooting place are said to have spurred an increase of visitors from those countries and so did the popularity of skiing in Japan for Australia. In Thailand, a private company sponsored prize tours to Japan and, in China, government encouraged foreign travel as part of the economic stimulus package. In the United States and Canada, discount fares were made available to promote travel to Japan. All those elements served to boost foreign visitor arrivals.

Source: Travel Vision

Travel Vision Inc. provides information on the travel industry in Japan via "Daily Travel Vision", a Japanese-language e-mail newsletter, and the "Travel Vision" website. There are nearly 110,000 people working in the Japanese travel industry, and Travel Vision is proud to be bringing travel news to more than 30,000 people through Daily Travel Vision.

According to Japan National Tourism Organization, the number of Japanese outbound travelers during the month of January this year (estimate) increased by 8.9 percent to 1,277,000 when compared to the same month a year earlier, posting a positive growth for six consecutive months since the month of August, 2009. While its loads fall short of 1,354,000 outbound travelers who departed during the month January, 2008, January this year saw an additional increase of approximately 105,000 when compared to the month of January, 2009. The strong Japanese currency encouraged travel to overseas destinations, said JNTO, analyzing the increase.

The number of visitor arrivals as well rose 10.3 percent to 640,500, registering a positive growth for three consecutive months since last November and further registering a two-digit increase for two consecutive months following last December. JNTO reported that the month of January under report enjoyed the increase following the month of January, 2008 when 711,350 visited Japan. Among Japan’s 12 major inbound markets, Korea, Thailand, USA, Germany and France show an increase over the previous year. Korea, in particular, recorded a robust increase of as high as 78.8 percent to 232,000 travelers to Japan.

Source: Travel Vision

Travel Vision Inc. provides information on the travel industry in Japan via "Daily Travel Vision", a Japanese-language e-mail newsletter, and the "Travel Vision" website. There are nearly 110,000 people working in the Japanese travel industry, and Travel Vision is proud to be bringing travel news to more than 30,000 people through Daily Travel Vision.