Foreign visitors reached record-high 1.38 million on a single month basis in February 2015

The latest Japan National Tourism Organization (JNTO) statistics finds that foreign visitors to Japan in February this year increased by 57.6% year-on-year to 1,387,000, which resulted in record-high on a single month basis and over 1 million for 12 months in a row. The large monthly growth was mainly boosted by travelers from greater China during the Chinese New Year period.

By market, visitors from China remarkably increased by 159.8% to 359,100, which represented the first over 300,000 visitors from China a month, outnumbering 321,600 visitors from Korea (+38.9%). Also, visitors from Taiwan considerably increased by 45.2% to 277,600, and Hong Kong also by 68.8% to 109,400.

Monthly results by major market are as follows:

Comparison of visitors from greater China regions during the Chinese New Year period is as follows. JNTO compares visitors in combined January and February because the Chinese New Year period shifts year by year.

JNTO analyzed that the large growth resulted from continuous weak yen trend, ease of visa rules, expansion of duty-free system, effective promotional activities as well as positive influences from the Chinese New Year. JNTO expects that the market will be boosted by high demand for cherry blossom even after March.