Japan Bound

With a three-jabs vaccination certificate, Chinese travelers entering Japan are no longer required PCR-negative certificate 72 hours before departure, and it will be lifted completely when the legal infection status of COVID-19 is lowered to Level 5 in May.

The Japanese government approved a new three-years basic tourism promotion plan to seek quality of travelers rather than the numerical goal, promoting 'Sustainable tourism,’ ‘Expansion of local spending’ and ‘Encouragement to send inbound travelers to local regions.’

Ethan Lin, Hong Kong-based local experience booking platform ‘Klook’ CEO and Co-founder, recently visited Japan to talk about the current market trend of inbound travel to Japan.

JTB signed a contract with Smart Health Net to develop medical tourism for luxury inbound travelers to provide high-grade comprehensive medical services for inbound travelers.

The number of international visitors in Japan in February 2023 was 1,475,300. Visitors from some source markets, such as Singapore or Middle East, were more than 2019.

The Japanese government has eased temporary entry restrictions from mainland China and has allowed airlines to operate or increase flights from mainland China to local airports since March 1 2023.

Kansai Tourism Bureau signed MOU on strategic partnership with Mastercard to accelerate digital payment in 10 prefectures in the Kansai area toward the Expo 2025 Osaka Kansai.

The number of international visitors in Japan in January 2023 was 1,497,300, out of which more than 1 million travelers visited from East Asia. Top source market was South Korea with 565,200 visitors.

Japan Tourism Agency proposed drafts of new Basic Act for Promoting a Tourism-Oriented Country by 2025, focusing on quality improvement rather than an increase in quantity, having three strategy pillars.

the total number of Japanese guest nights in December 2022 (provisionally) was up 5.8% year on year to 41 million, and international guest nights were up 1695.8% year on year to 5.9 million.

Rieko Nakayama, Japan National Tourism Organization (JNTO) Executive Vice President, said at a press briefing that the inbound travel market has been recovering well since the Japanese border practically opened on October 11.

JTB has forecasted a 8.6% increase in domestic travelers to 266 million, a 189.7% increase in outbound travelers to 8.4 million and a 450.6% increase in inbound travelers to 21 million in 2023.

Spending in Japan by international travelers for three months from October to December 2022 was estimated at 595.2 billion JPY. Spending per international traveler was up 24.6% to 212,000 JPY even compared to three years ago.

The number of international arrivals in Japan in 2022 was 3,831,900, which were 88% fewer arrivals than 2019. In December 2022, arrivals were up 1.5 times to 1.37 million compared to November. The largest source market in December 2022 was South Korea with 456,100 visitors.

The Japanese government has enhanced entry control for travelers who stay in China (except Hong Kong and Macao) and fly to Japan directly from China (except Hong Kong and Macao) since January 8 2023, requiring pre-departure negative certificate (72 hours before departure) and PCR test on arrival.

the number of international arrivals in Japan almost doubled to 934,500 in November 2022 from 498,600 in the previous month. The largest source market in November 2022 was South Korea with 315,400 visitors, which were 53.8% more than even November 2019.

Virgin Australia announced launch of its first Japan service between Cairns and Haneda with the Boeing 737-8 on June 28 2023, expanding code-share flights with ANA. They expect that Japanese passengers may be 60 to 70% of the total on average through a year.

Princes Cruise will restart cruises in Japan in March 2023, offering 22 courses on 32 departure days in the period between March 13 and November 9 2023.

The occupancy rate of 116 hotels in Kyoto City in October 2022 was up 9.3 points over September 2022 or up 24.9 points over October 2021 to 63.7%. Japanese guest nights in October 2022 totaled 533,611, which was 12.4% more nights than September 2022.

The total number of Japanese guest nights in October 2022 (provisionally) was up 32.5% year on year to 42.1 million, which were up 5.8% even compared to October 2019. The occupancy rate was 52.6% overall, higher than 49.5% in September 2022.