Foreign visitors' spending in Japan hits record 7 tril. yen in Jan.-Sept

In the nine months leading up to September, spending by foreign visitors in Japan reached a record high of 7.06 trillion yen ($45 billion), according to the Japan Tourism Agency. This figure marked a 1.9 percent increase compared to the same period a year earlier. The surge in spending continued during the last quarter of the year, with expenditures from July to September surging 3.2 percent year-on-year to reach 2.2 trillion yen.

Taiwan emerged as the leading source of foreign visitor spending, contributing 382 billion yen, closely followed by China at 358 billion yen. On a monthly basis, visitors from the three months ending in September averaged 233,677 yen, representing a 6.1 percent increase compared to the previous year. Despite this record-breaking spending, the number of foreign tourists visiting Japan during the same period experienced a decline of 2.9 percent, totaling 30.73 million visitors.

This marked the first decrease in spending since 2021, a year during which Japan faced the challenges posed by the novel coronavirus pandemic.

Visitors from China saw the most significant drop, with a 55.5 percent decline, primarily driven by deteriorating relations between China and Japan following Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi's comments in November. These remarks suggested that a potential Chinese attack on Taiwan could result in a response from Japan's Self-Defense Forces, in support of the United States.

South Korea led the way in visitor numbers, boasting 8.3 million visitors, a 21.6 percent increase over the previous quarter. Taiwan and China followed closely behind, with 6 million and 3.3 million visitors respectively, growing by 19.1 percent and 22.4 percent respectively. The United States and Hong Kong rounded out the top five visitor nations, experiencing modest growth of 5.2 percent and 7.7 percent respectively.