Monthly Visitors to Japan Top 3 M. for 1st Time

Tokyo, April 17 (Jiji Press)--The estimated monthly number of foreign visitors to Japan surpassed three million for the first time last month, a Japan National Tourism Organization report showed Wednesday.

The March visitor tally jumped 69.5 pct from a year before to 3,081,600, up 11.6 pct from the same month of 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic.

Many foreign visitors came to Japan last month in time for the cherry blossom season. A weak yen also contributed to the record high.

According to the estimate, 663,100 visitors came from South Korea, the largest group by country or region of origin, followed by 484,400 from Taiwan.

The number of visitors from mainland China came to 452,400, rebounding to about 65 pct of the pre-pandemic level, though the pace of recovery slowed from February, when China celebrated the Lunar New Year.

Meanwhile, 290,100 visitors came from the United States, up 64.3 pct from March 2019, and 78,800 visitors from the Philippines, up 63.2 pct.

The January-March visitor total reached 8,558,100, a record high for the period.

The Japanese government has a goal of having the annual number of foreign visitors eclipse the 2019 record of 31.88 million by 2025. Japan Tourism Agency Commissioner Ichiro Takahashi said the country is on track to achieve the goal this year.

Separately, the tourism agency said that total spending by foreign tourists in Japan came to 1,750.5 billion yen in January-March, a record high on a quarterly basis.

Per-visitor spending climbed to 208,760 yen, surpassing the government target of raising spending to 200,000 yen per person by 2025.

The higher spending is believed to reflect an increase in the average number of overnight stays per trip, as well as the weak yen and inflation.

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