Sumitomo Mitsui Card, a major credit card issuer in Japan, revealed that international visitors to Japan paid 55.3% more money with credit cards during the period from January to November 2024 than a year ago. Compared to the same period of 2019, the growth rate was 50.4%.
発表資料より
By region, payments in Tokyo and Osaka metropolitan areas accounted for 80% or more of the total. Payments in Chubu area including Nagoya increased by 86.3% compared to a year ago, and a share of payments in Tohoku area rose from 0.3% in 2019 to 0.5%.
By country or region, the ratio of payments by Chinese visitors was down from about 60% in 2019 to about 20%, while the ratio of payments by visitors from U.S., Taiwan, South Korea and Hong Kong rose. One of the Noteworthy trends was that the ratio of payments by Singaporean visitors rose from 1.6% in 2019 to 4.3%.
発表資料より
By business, payments in hotels, ryokans, restaurants and amusement parks increased, and payments in airports increased by 97.4% compared to 2019. Payments in duty-free shops were down 16.9% over 2019, but up 137.6% over 2023, which were the biggest growth among all businesses.
発表資料より
