Human Written & Fact Checked · Last reviewed
Japan Tourism Statistics for November 2026
Japan received a record 42.7 million international visitors in 2025, up 15.8% on 2024, and they spent a record ¥9.45 trillion. South Korea was the largest market with 9.46 million visitors, while visitors from China spent the most. In January–September 2026 arrivals were 2.9% lower than a year earlier (preliminary), as Chinese arrivals fell by 55.5%.
How many people visit Japan, where they come from, what they spend and where they stay — the latest official figures, compiled from official statistics, with full sources listed at the bottom of the page. Headline numbers are for 2025, the most recent full year, with 2026 year-to-date where available.
Inbound visitors
International visitors to Japan
Japan set a new record in 2025 with 42.7 million international visitors — up 15.8% on 2024 and about a third above the 2019 pre-pandemic level. 2026 has turned lower: 30.7 million visitors arrived in January–September, 2.9% fewer than a year earlier, largely because arrivals from China fell by more than half.
View data table
| Period | Value | Note |
|---|---|---|
| 2019 | 31.9m | pre-pandemic |
| 2020 | 4.1m | pandemic |
| 2021 | 0.2m | borders closed |
| 2022 | 3.8m | |
| 2023 | 25.1m | |
| 2024 | 36.9m | |
| 2025 | 42.7m | record |
Visitor arrivals exclude foreign residents of Japan but include cruise passengers, transit passengers who land, and foreign expatriates and students entering or re-entering the country; crew are excluded. 2019–2025 figures are definitive. 2026 so far: 30.7 million in January–September, down 2.9% (January–July provisional, August–September preliminary estimates).
Visitor spending
What international visitors spend
International visitors spent a record ¥9.45 trillion in Japan in 2025, up 16.4% on 2024 and almost double the 2019 level. Spending has held up better than arrivals in 2026: each quarter so far has been ahead of the same quarter of 2025, even though January–September arrivals are down. Figures are nominal.
View data table
| Period | Value | Note |
|---|---|---|
| 2019 | ¥4.81tn | pre-pandemic |
| 2020 | ¥745bn | trial estimate |
| 2021 | ¥121bn | trial estimate |
| 2022 | ¥899bn | trial estimate |
| 2023 | ¥5.31tn | |
| 2024 | ¥8.13tn | |
| 2025 | ¥9.45tn | record |
Values in yen, not adjusted for inflation; 2025 is the final figure. The 2020–2022 figures are trial estimates from a reduced pandemic-era survey and are not strictly comparable. 2026 so far (preliminary): ¥2.34tn in January–March (+2.5%), ¥2.51tn in April–June (+0.3%) and ¥2.21tn in July–September (+3.2%) — ¥7.06tn across the three quarters.
Source markets
Where Japan's visitors come from
East Asia dominates: South Korea, China and Taiwan together sent 25.3 million visitors in 2025, nearly six in ten of the total. China was the biggest spender (¥2.01tn, 21.2% of all visitor spending), and the United States was the largest market outside Asia. Bars show 2025 arrivals; the muted figure is that market’s 2025 spending.
The picture has shifted in 2026: in January–September, arrivals from China fell 55.5% to 3.3 million while South Korea grew 21.6% to 8.3 million and Taiwan 19.1% to 6.0 million (preliminary).
Why they come
Purpose of visit
More than nine in ten visitors come as tourists. The official tourist category includes visits to friends and relatives, so no separate VFR share is published; “other” covers study, training, diplomatic and similar visits.
- Tourism (incl. VFR) 91%
- Other (study, training, etc.) 6%
- Business 3%
Shares are for 2025, based on 42.7 million visitor arrivals.
Seasonality
When they visit
Japan’s visitor numbers are unusually even through the year: no quarter took more than 26% of 2025 arrivals. Spring and autumn are the busiest seasons — April (3.91 million) and October (3.90 million) were the peak months — while February was the quietest (3.26 million).
View data table
| Period | Value | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Q1 | 10.5m | Jan–Mar |
| Q2 | 11.0m | Apr–Jun |
| Q3 | 10.1m | Jul–Sep |
| Q4 | 11.0m | Oct–Dec |
Quarterly totals aggregated from the official monthly visitor-arrivals series for 2025 (definitive).
Accommodation
Hotels & occupancy
International guests spent 179.9 million nights in Japanese accommodation in 2025, up 9.4% on 2024 and 55.6% above 2019 — 27.2% of all guest nights. Tokyo alone accounted for 60.1 million of them, though growth was faster outside the big metropolitan areas (+19.1%).
Economic impact
Tourism in Japan's economy
Domestic travel is still the larger part of Japan’s tourism economy: residents spent ¥26.8 trillion on domestic trips in 2025, against ¥9.45 trillion from international visitors. The official tourism accounts put tourism’s direct value added at ¥14.3 trillion in 2024; a modelled industry estimate puts travel and tourism’s total contribution at 8.1% of GDP in 2025.
The 8.1% figure is a modelled estimate that includes indirect effects and is not comparable with the narrower official direct value-added measure. The official accounts also count 6.23 million jobs in tourism industries in 2024, but that total includes all jobs in sectors such as restaurants and passenger transport, not only work serving visitors. The government’s targets for 2030 are 60 million international visitors and ¥15 trillion in visitor spending.
At a glance
Fast facts
- 30.7m Visitors Jan–Sep 2026 (−2.9%, preliminary)
- ¥228,782 Avg. spend per visitor (2025, excl. cruise)
- 9.5 nights Avg. length of stay (2025, excl. cruise)
- 1.55m Cruise passengers landing (2025)
- 60.1m International guest nights in Tokyo (2025)
- 60m Government visitor target for 2030
Questions
Frequently asked questions
How many tourists visit Japan each year?
Japan received a record 42.7 million international visitors in 2025, up 15.8% on 2024 and about a third above the 2019 pre-pandemic level of 31.9 million. In January–September 2026 arrivals were 30.7 million, 2.9% lower than a year earlier (preliminary). The government’s target is 60 million a year by 2030.
How much do tourists spend in Japan?
International visitors spent a record ¥9.45 trillion in 2025, up 16.4% on 2024 and almost double the 2019 level. The average visitor (excluding cruise passengers) spent ¥228,782 per trip, with accommodation the largest share of spending (36.6%), followed by shopping (27.0%) and food and drink (21.9%).
Which country sends the most tourists to Japan?
South Korea, with 9.46 million visitors in 2025, just ahead of China (9.10 million) and Taiwan (6.76 million). China was the biggest spender, at ¥2.01 trillion. The United States, with 3.31 million visitors, is the largest market outside Asia.
Why are fewer Chinese tourists visiting Japan in 2026?
Arrivals from China fell 55.5% to 3.3 million in January–September 2026 (preliminary). Since November 2025 the Chinese government has repeatedly advised its citizens to avoid travel to Japan, and flights have been cut. Other markets have grown — South Korea by 21.6% and Taiwan by 19.1% — but not enough to offset the fall, so total arrivals were down 2.9%.
When is the busiest time to visit Japan?
Spring and autumn. April (3.91 million visitors) and October (3.90 million) were the busiest months of 2025, and February the quietest (3.26 million). Overall, arrivals are spread unusually evenly, with no quarter taking more than 26% of the year’s visitors.
Using these figures?
Cite this page
Journalists, researchers and bloggers are welcome to use the statistics on this page. Please credit Japan Tourism Statistics and link to this page.
Japan Tourism Statistics (2026). Visitors, spending and trends. Last reviewed 1 November 2026. https://www.globaltourismstatistics.com/japan
<a href="https://www.globaltourismstatistics.com/japan">Japan Tourism Statistics</a> Notes & sources
Methodology & sources
This page compiles publicly available official statistics; the sources for every figure are listed below. Key caveats:
- Latest data. Visitor arrivals for 2019–2025 are JNTO’s definitive figures (the 2025 total of 42,683,301 replaces the January 2026 estimate of 42,683,600). 2026 arrivals are provisional for January–July and preliminary JNTO estimates for August–September. Spending for 2025 is the Japan Tourism Agency’s final figure; 2026 quarterly spending figures are preliminary, and the ¥7.06tn January–September total is our sum of the three published quarters (no official year-to-date total or growth rate is published). Accommodation figures are final 2025 values; the tourism satellite account runs a year behind and refers to 2024.
- What counts as a visitor. JNTO visitor arrivals are based on Ministry of Justice immigration data: foreign nationals entering Japan, excluding permanent residents and others whose main residence is Japan, plus port-of-call, transit and cruise-ship landings. Expatriates, their families and international students entering or re-entering are included; crew are excluded. “Tourists” in the purpose split are short-term visitors other than business visitors and include visits to friends and relatives.
- Spending measure. Visitor spending comes from the Japan Tourism Agency’s airport and seaport survey of departing visitors (renamed the Inbound Consumption Survey from April–June 2024, with unchanged methods). Values are nominal yen. Per-visitor spend and average stay cover general visitors excluding cruise passengers; average stay is calculated from entry and exit dates and covers all purposes, so it includes some very long stays (visitors from Vietnam averaged 45.3 nights in 2025). The 2020–2022 annual figures are trial estimates from a reduced survey. Market spending figures are from the same survey and use slightly different visitor counts from the arrivals table.
- Economic impact. The ¥14.3tn figure is total gross value added in Table 6 of the Japan Tourism Agency’s 2024 Tourism Satellite Account (UN Tourism standard) — tourism’s direct contribution. No official tourism share of GDP is published in those tables, so the share shown is WTTC’s modelled 2025 estimate (US$343.1bn, 8.1% of GDP), which includes indirect and induced effects and is reported only in US dollars.
- Gaps. Japan publishes no comparable national ranking of visitor attractions, and most major sites do not release official visitor counts, so an attractions section is omitted rather than estimated.
Primary sources
- JNTO — Visitor arrivals (訪日外客数) — Monthly release for September 2026 (21 Oct 2026): 2025 monthly and annual figures definitive; 2026 January–July provisional, August–September preliminary estimates (January–September 30,730,200, −2.9%).
- JNTO — Visitor arrivals by year and by country/region — Annual visitor arrivals 1964–2025 and arrivals by country/region 2003–2025, all definitive (published Aug 2026).
- JNTO — Visitor arrivals by nationality and purpose — 2025 definitive figures by purpose of visit (tourist, business, other), published Aug 2026.
- Japan Tourism Agency — Inbound Consumption Survey (インバウンド消費動向調査) — 2025 calendar-year results, final (確報), published 31 Mar 2026.
- Japan Tourism Agency — Inbound Consumption Survey, earlier years — Annual results 2019–2024 (2020–2022 are trial estimates, 試算値); 2026 quarterly results: Jan–Mar ¥2.3373tn (+2.5%) and Apr–Jun ¥2.5125tn (+0.3%) second preliminary, Jul–Sep ¥2.2076tn (+3.2%) first preliminary (21 Oct 2026).
- Japan Tourism Agency — Overnight Travel Statistics Survey (宿泊旅行統計調査) — 2025 annual figures, final (確定値), published 6 Jul 2026.
- Japan Tourism Agency — Tourism Satellite Account (TSA) — 2024 tables (2020 base): Table 6 tourism direct gross value added ¥14,305bn (UN Tourism standard); Table 7 jobs in tourism industries 6.23m (page updated 2 Sep 2026).
- Japan Tourism Agency — Travel and Tourism Consumption Trend Survey — 2025 annual results, final (確報): domestic travel spending by Japanese residents ¥26.7845tn (+6.5%), published 30 Apr 2026.
- Japan Tourism Agency — Tourism Nation Promotion Basic Plan (5th) — Cabinet decision of 27 Mar 2026, FY2026–FY2030: targets of 60 million visitors and ¥15 trillion visitor spending by 2030 retained.
- WTTC — Economic Impact Research — Japan travel & tourism GDP contribution 2025: US$343.1bn, 8.1% of GDP (modelled estimate; WTTC release of 25 Sep 2026 as republished).