Japan: State of inbound and outbound travel and tourism

JATA
JATA
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The Japan Association of Travel Agents (JATA) released an overlook on the State of the Travel and Tourism Industry in Japan for both inbound and outbound travel

The Japan Association of Travel Agents (JATA) released an overlook on the State of the Travel and Tourism Industry in Japan for both inbound and outbound travel

Foreign Visitors & Japanese Departure
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International arrivals in Japan in October were 43.8% over the same period last year, reaching 1.829 million.

Following Julyโ€™s 1.918 million foreign arrivals, the number is the second highest ever monthly result. The number of inbound tourists grew by 41.0% up to 1.648 million in November and by 43.4% up to 1.773 million in December.

The number of Japanese who traveled abroad fell by 0.4% in October, 1.2% in November and 3.7% in December.ย 
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Transaction by Major Japanese Travel Agent
Compared to the same period of last year, the outbound travel continued to slide down. Sales were down by 4.3% in September, 5.5% in October and 6.0% in November. On the other hand, the foreign visitor arrivals
continued to increase, growing by 37.9% in September, 39.3% in October and 44.7% in November. Domestic travel continued the upward trend in all three months.ย ย 

2015 Overview
According to the data published by the Japan National Tourism Organization(JNTO), the number of foreigners who visited Japan in 2015 grew by 47.1%, reaching 19.737 million, the highest ever number since 1964 when JNTO began compiling statistical data. The number exceeds that of the previous yearโ€™s record of 13.413 million (2014) by more than 6 million and for the first time since 1970, foreign visitors surpassed Japanese outbound travelers.

Outbound Market

The sales by major travel agencies decreased by 4.3% in September, 5.5% in October and 6.0% in November on yearโ€onโ€year basis. The drop of sales of tours to Europe was the most noticeable and under the influence of the weak yen, overseas travel continued to decline. In September, however, there was an improvement over August (13.6% decrease on yearโ€onโ€year basis) resulting from the larger number of travelers during the five successive holidays of the Golden week.

Inbound Marketย ย 
The major travel agencies reported a 37.9% increase in September, 39.3% more visitors in October and 44.7% more arrivals in November. The visitors from Southโ€East Asian visa waiver countries continued to increase.ย ย 

Domestic Market
Sales of domestic tours by major travel agencies continued to grow, increasing by 16.0% in September, 10.7% in October, and 5.2% in November. Thanks to the Silver week in September sales in September were good. During the three months, Kansai and Hokuriku were popular, with the latterโ€™s popularity sustained by the operations of Hokuriku Shinkansen

About the author

Avatar of Juergen T Steinmetz

Juergen T Steinmetz

Juergen Thomas Steinmetz has continuously worked in the travel and tourism industry since he was a teenager in Germany (1977).
He founded eTurboNews in 1999 as the first online newsletter for the global travel tourism industry.

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