Japan Tourism Agency reported that guest nights in June 2018 were up 3.2% year on year to 39.57 million in total, which consisted of 32.12 million Japanese guest nights (+0.2%) and record-high 7.45 million foreigner guest nights (+19.1%) for June. In June, the new ‘minpaku’ or private accommodation law was enforced.
The preliminary report for July 2018 shows 43.31 million guest nights in total (-1.3%), comprising 36.53 million Japanese guest nights (-4.8%) and 8.78 million foreigner guest nights (+17%).
The room occupancy rate was 59.5% overall, which was the record-breaking result. The highest rate was found in Tokyo with 79.9% overall, particularly high in budget hotels with 84.6% and city hotels with 85.4%. The second highest rate was found in Osaka with 76.5% overall, 83.9% for resort hotels, 83.3% for city hotels, 75.9% for budget hotels and 61.7% for simply lodging facilities.
By international market, China was the largest market with 1,869,920 guest nights in June 2018, increasing by 40.3% year on year, followed by Taiwan with 1,055,920 guest nights (+4.7%), Korea with 913,750 guest nights (+6.2%), U.S.A. with 541,370 guest nights (+12.9%) and Hong Kong with 512,010 guest nights (-1.0%). The top five accounted for 72.8% of the total.
The highest growth among top 201 markets was found in Indonesia with 51.4%, followed by China with 40.3%, Vietnam with 32.4%, Italy with 30.2% and Thailand with 30%.
By prefecture, Chinese, Taiwanese and Korean guest nights each accounted for 20% of the total in Hokkaido. Taiwanese guest nights were especially high in Tohoku area except Aomori. In Tochigi and Hiroshima, U.S.A. was the biggest market with a share of about 20%. The high ratios of Chinese guest nights were found in Shizuoka with 68%, Nara with 60% and Aichi with 53%.
The graph below shows guest nights by nationality in prefectures in June 2018:
