Japan Foreign Entries to Japan: Updated Dec. 20, 2023.

Sept. foreign entries to Japan at 2.2 mil., 96% of pre-pandemic level

Article Source:https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20231018/p2g/00m/0na/040000c

Article:

TOKYO (Kyodo) -- Japan saw an estimated 2,184,300 foreign visitors in September, representing 96.1 percent of the figure for the same month in 2019 before the coronavirus outbreak, government data showed Wednesday.

The recovery rate was significantly higher than the previous month, and this was helped by an increase in visitors from countries of Southeast Asia and North America, according to the Japan National Tourism Organization.

Ideas:

Most likely, airline ticket prices, which are still high compared to the pre-pandemic level, might be keeping some tourists away.

But in the fall of 2019, was the Rugby World Cup in Japan, which started in Sept. 2019, which resulted in a lot of tourist going to japan, so that be a reason for only 96.1 percent.

I took 2 trips to the Tokyo area in Sept, and Oct. of 2019, not for the Rugby World Cup, but for other reasons, and the lines at the immigration counter area were crowded each time. For example, I remember being inline with a lot of French tourists, who were probably there for the Rugby World Cup. 

The Fall of 2019 felt like a special time in Japan because of the Rugby World Cup and also because in 2019 there were a lot of sales as at the end of Oct. 2019, the Japanese government was going to increase the sales tax from 5 to 8 percent, which meant there were a lot pre-tax sales and Japanese consumers were spending like crazy, or it felt that way.

Who knew, that just a few months later everything would change in Japan and globally because of the pandemic.

Article:

Visitors from mainland China totaled 325,600 last month, or 39.8 percent of the pre-pandemic level four years earlier, but the figure was lower than the previous month by nearly 40,000.

China, which in August lifted restrictions on Japan-bound group travel for its citizens, ranked third in a list of arrival numbers from other countries and regions.

Ideas:

In 2019 and maybe  before, China was the largest number of tourists to Japan, and maybe being new middle to upper class consumers, they had money to spend, and Japan being close by, with a weak yen, might have enough as an incentive to go to Japan.

No doubt the number of Chinese tourists will continue to increase and most likely in 2024 there again will be a record number of Chinese tourists to Japan.

At 39.8 percent of the pre-pandemic level, it might take some time, most likely in 2024, the number of Chinese tourists will get back to normal.

But again, ticket prices, globally could be an incentive not travel. But if you add in the weak Japanese yen, that might offset the high ticket prices and tourists might feel its still a value going to Japan.

Article:

The most arrivals came from South Korea at 570,400, up 183.4 percent, followed by Taiwan at 385,300, up 2.4 percent.

September saw a record number of foreign visitors for the month from 15 out of 23 markets, including South Korea, Taiwan, Australia and the United States, the data showed.

Ideas:

So China had 325,00 tourists, Taiwan had 385,00 tourists and South Korea had 570,000 tourists.

So maybe the so-called friction between Japan and China and between Japan and South Korea has been reduced and now people want to travel and don't want to think about politics or nationalism too much.

Ticket prices, in South Korea, are very high now, even for the so-called budget South Korean airlines, which might be a combination of increased demand, higher fuel costs, and airlines still trying to make up for what they lost during the pandemic.

Overall in 2023 it might not be a record year, but it could be close, but 2024 looks like it will be record year, if the Japanese yen remains weak.

The weak Japanese yen gives more purchasing power to foreign tourists, which means for their currency, they can spend more.

Article:

Meanwhile, the number of Japanese nationals traveling overseas more than tripled in September from a year before to 1,004,700, although it was 42.6 percent less than the same month in 2019.

The number of departures fell by almost 200,000 compared with August.

Ideas:

The weak Japan yen against the US dollar, for example, makes the purchasing power for Japanese tourists traveling overseas, difficult for them.

Of course maybe some exchange their yen to dollars or they did it gradually over the months before their trip.

But maybe for some, the currency exchange rate situation is not a major challenge, like maybe inflation is not a major challenges to some income groups.

But to be fair, while only 42.6 percent traveled in Sept. compared to the record year of 2019, there are a lot challenges for overseas traveling now, that wasn't there in 2019.

And of course, like anywhere airline tickets are very high these days, because of increased demand, higher fuel costs and airlines still trying to makeup for losses during the pandemic.

Have a nice day and be safe!