TOKYO, Japan – Spending by foreign visitors to Japan reached a record ¥7.06 trillion (approximately US$45 billion) in the nine months through September, the Japan Tourism Agency said Wednesday.
The figure, which includes spending on shopping, accommodation and other services, marked a 1.9% increase from the same period a year earlier.
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From July through September, visitor spending rose 3.2% year-on-year to ¥2.2 trillion. Taiwan topped the list of spending by country and region, contributing ¥382 billion, followed by China at ¥358 billion.
Average spending per foreign visitor during the July–September quarter reached ¥233,677, up 6.1% from a year earlier.
Meanwhile, the number of foreign visitors to Japan fell 2.9% year-on-year to 30.73 million during the January–September period, according to the Japan National Tourism Organization (JNTO).
South Korea led visitor arrivals during the first nine months, with 8.3 million visitors, up 21.6% from a year earlier. Taiwan ranked second with 6 million visitors, an increase of 19.1%, followed by China with 3.3 million and the United States with 2.5 million, up 5.2%. Hong Kong accounted for 2 million visitors, an increase of 7.7%.
In September alone, Japan welcomed 3.1 million foreign visitors, down 5.0% from the same month last year. Arrivals from China fell 44.5% to 430,800, marking the 10th consecutive month of year-on-year decline.
The January–September period recorded the first decline in visitor arrivals for those nine months since 2021, when the COVID-19 pandemic severely disrupted international travel.
The decline in Chinese arrivals comes amid strained relations between Beijing and Tokyo following Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s remarks in November suggesting that a Chinese attack on Taiwan could prompt a response from Japan’s Self-Defense Forces in support of the United States.
Despite the overall decline in visitor numbers, spending by foreign tourists continued to grow, reaching a record level for the January–September period and underscoring inbound tourism’s economic importance to Japan.
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