Visitors to Japan Jump to Record 19.74 Million in 2015

Tokyo, Jan. 19 (Jiji Press)--The number of foreign visitors to Japan in 2015 jumped 47.1 pct from the previous year to 19,737,400, hitting a record high for the third straight year, the Japan National Tourism Organization said in an estimate Tuesday. The annual growth, the biggest since the statistics began in 1964, reflected the popularity of trips to Japan among people in other Asian countries, such as China, which is backed by the yen's weakness, easing of visa requirements and an expansion of flights, according to the JNTO. The annual number of foreign visitors nearly doubled in only two years from 2013, when the total topped 10 million for the first time, coming close to the Japanese government's goal of lifting the figure to 20 million by 2020. The government is considering setting a new goal. The government will reach a conclusion with the fiscal year ending in March on whether to pursue 30 million or more, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said at a parliamentary committee. The amount of money spent by foreign visitors in 2015, including on shopping, accommodations and food, grew some 70 pct from the previous year to a record high of 3,477.1 billion yen. The number of Japanese who departed for foreign countries last year dropped 4.1 pct from 2014 to 16,212,100, standing below the number of foreign visitors to Japan for the first time in 45 years since 1970, according to the JNTO's estimate. By country or region, the number of visitors to Japan from mainland China was the largest, at 4,993,800, in 2015, up 2.1-fold from the year before. South Korea came in second at 4,002,100, up 45.3 pct. Third was Taiwan at 3,677,100, up 29.9 pct, followed by Hong Kong at 1,524,300, up 64.6 pct, and the United States at 1,033,200, up 15.9 pct. "The rapid increase of visitors has given rise to new problems," tourism minister Keiichi Ishii told a press conference, expressing the government's intention to quickly consider ways to tackle serious shortages of hotels in Tokyo, Osaka and Kyoto, among other issues. Regarding China's economic slowdown, Ishii said, "We need to carefully watch how it would influence the number of visitors to Japan." END