Japan Tourism Agency (JTA) reported that foreigners’ guest nights in Japan increased by 41.3% year on year to 12.37 million in the fourth quarter of 2014, resulting in growths of 25% or more for seven quarters in a row since the second quarter of 2013. The total of guest nights in Japan in 2014 reached about 427.5 million (+1.4%), out of which foreigners’ guest nights were 44.82 million (+33.8%).
By prefecture in the fourth quarter of 2014, the top was Tokyo with 14.1 million guest nights (+1.7%), followed by Hokkaido with 7.6 million (+5.3%) and Osaka with 7.1 million (+10.7%). The highest growth was found in Saga (+19.9%), followed by Shiga (+12.5%), Okayama (+15.4%) and Fukuoka (+14.8%).
Foreigners’ guest nights grew year on year in 42 of all prefectures. The top was Tokyo with 3.8 million guest nights (+46.9%), followed by Osaka with 1.6 million (+43.9%) and Hokkaido with 1.1 million (+32.5%). The highest growth was found in Wakayama (+109.7%), followed by Shimane (+103.4%), Gifu (+86.7%), Fukuoka (+83.2%) and Miyazaki (+82.7%).
By nationality, China was top with 2.17 million guest nights (+97.9%), which accounted for 19.3% of the total. The second was Taiwan with 1.99 million (+30%), followed by Korea with 1.18 million (+49.7%). The large growths were particularly found in Philippine (+66%) and Vietnam (+55.4%).
Occupancy rates in the fourth quarter of 2014 were 79.9% for city hotels, 75.4% for business hotels. 53.2% for resort hotels, 37% for ryokans and 27.8% for companies’ or organizations’ welfare accommodations on nationwide average.
In Japanese
