Foreign tourists to Japan fall 9.6% in August, Chinese visitors plunge 59%
MacroGeopolitics
The Japan National Tourism Organization, or JNTO, said on Wednesday, September 16, that the number of foreign visitors to Japan in August stood at 3.10 million, down 9.6% from a year earlier, with Chinese tourists plunging 59.0% to 418,000 as bilateral relations with Japan remained tense after Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi commented on the possibility of a contingency involving Taiwan, which angered China. Visitors from South Korea topped the list at 850,500, up 28.7%, followed by Taiwan with 666,000, up 7.3%, Hong Kong with 247,300, up 9.4%, the United States with 197,400, up 1.5%, and Italy with 47,300, up 15.1%. Visitors from Australia fell 7.4% to 38,200, and those from Thailand dropped 9.3% to 32,200. JNTO said surging fuel prices after the war between the United States and Iran, flight cancellations caused by several typhoons, and sluggish seasonal travel demand from some Southeast Asian countries also contributed to the decline.
