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Japan tourism is experiencing a bounce back in total foreign arrivals, following a collapse of tourism after March 2011 earthquake and tsunami.
TOKYO- With Japan’s experiencing a devastating earthquake, tsunami and a nuke catastrophe last year, it was no surprise that tourism collapsed in 2011. Released figures provided by the Ministry of Justice and the Japan National Tourism Organization (JNTO) show a decline of 28% last year with total international arrivals to the country back to 6.22 million compared to over eight million in 2010.
Meanwhile, recovery is in full swing. According to estimated figures from the JNTO, markets are bouncing back. In March, total international arrivals was up by 92.4% and by 163.9% in April. JNTO in its estimations believe that total arrivals for the first semester 2012 will stand at 2.69 million, up by 31.8% over the same period of 2011. All markets seem to record a growth, except South Korea, still expected to be down by 1.1% over 2011 for the first four months of 2012. Travellers from Europe are expected to be up by 30% to 40% on average while arrivals from North America are estimated to have grown by 35% during the first four months of 2012. In Asia, the strongest recovery came from Thailand, up by an estimated 111% while figures from Taiwan are up by 65%, Hong Kong by 52% and China by 46%. Growth is more moderate for Australia with total arrivals up by only an estimated 10% from January to April.
Table: Evolution of total international arrivals to Japan from January to April with estimated total for Jan-June
|
2012 Jan |
Feb |
Mar |
Apr |
May |
June |
Estimated Jan~Jun total |
|
684,819 |
547,948 |
678,500 |
780,800 |
2,692,100 |
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.
