During the month of March, Japan has seen a record number of tourist visits. No less than 3.1 million foreign visitors made it to the country in order to see its famous cherry blossoms while the national currency was at a low.
Compared to last year, the tourist entries went up by around 70% and they lay even 12% above pre-pandemic levels. According to the Japan National Tourism Organisation, most vistors came from South Korea, Taiwan and China. Generally speaking, 17 international markets reached a record in March, the United States, Vietnam and India being just a handful of them.
This was the highest single month on record and the first time the number of visitors exceeded 3 million.
Japan National Tourism Organisation
The main reason for the peak in March was the cherry blossom season. Even though this generally occurs at the end of the month, this year the magnificent natural phenomenon greatly coincided with the Easter holidays. Moreover, the yen has been showing a 34-year low against the dollar, making it more interesting than ever for foreign visitors to plan a visit to Japan.
However, the great surge in tourist numbers also caused some negative effects for anyone visiting the country. The average daily room rate for March was about ¥20,986 ($136), the highest ever since August 1997. Just compared to last year during the same period, prices went up by 20% according to CoStar Group. Not only the great number of tourists but the labour shortage in Japan, too, has been influencing the room rates.
“To be able to cover the high occupancy rates with the labour shortage, the hotel rates have to be increased,” Harumi Taguchi, principal economist at S&P Global Market Intelligence, told The Japan Times. “The demand is high from inbound tourists, so it’s an environment where it’s easy to raise the prices. Should demand from foreign visitors continue to increase, hotel prices may just keep going up. And with the weak yen, it’s still cheap for foreigners to pay that price.”
Since the pandemic, Japan has been doing everything in its power to boost tourist numbers. An effort that now seems to be paying off, even though locals in Kyoto have been speaking against tourists harassing the well-known geisha who work in the city’s Gion district.
