Japan tourism succeeds well in 2012 with total arrivals up to 8.36 million foreign visitors. 2012 can consequently be considered as a year of strong recovery.
TOKYO- Estimated figures for the year 2012 put the total number of foreign travellers to Japan at 8.36 million arrivals, a jump of 34.6% over 2011. Of course the year 2011 was still strongly affected by the aftermath of the nuke incident and tsunami in Fukushima.
But Japan tourism’s recovery has since been remarkable despite the fact that the Japan National Tourism Organization had an initial objective of 10 million international travellers by 2011. But compared to Japan, the progress is easy to track: back to 2011, the total number of foreign travellers to Japan reached only 6.22 million international arrivals, a decline of over 27.8%. Last year, the growth of international arrivals by 35% helped to put figures almost back to year 2010.
Total arrivals in 2012 are only down by 2.9% compared to 2010 total arrivals. Most of Japan’s inbound markets stand now over 2010 figures, except for South Korea, Japan’s largest source of travellers; Hong Kong and the UK. Last year, total arrivals from South Korea reached 2.044 million, still 16% under 2010 figures. Hong Kong total number of travellers reached 481,000 compared to 508,000 back to 2010 (-5.6%) while UK total arrivals in 2912 reached 174,000 compared to 184,000 in 2010 (-5.7%).
Surprisingly, total arrivals from China PRC remain above 2010 figures despite the ongoing political tensions between the two neighbours. Total arrivals from the Mainland reached last year 1.430 million compared to 1.412 million in 2010. In Southeast Asia, Thailand is Japan’s largest incoming market with total arrivals reaching 261,000 compared to 215,000 in 2010.
Luc Citrinot a French national is a freelance journalist and consultant in tourism and air transport with over 20 years experience. Based in Paris and Bangkok, he works for various travel and air transport trade publications in Europe and Asia.
