Foreign Visitors to Japan Spend Over ¥8 tril. for 1st Time; Thanks to Weak Yen, More Visitors from West

Foreign tourists are seen in Tokyo’s Ginza district on Jan. 8.
13:58 JST, January 16, 2025
Spending by foreign visitors to Japan reached about ¥8.14 trillion in 2024, up 53.4% year on year, surpassing the ¥8 trillion mark for the first time, according to preliminary statistics from the Japan Tourism Agency.
Thanks to a weaker yen, there have been more visitors from abroad, which has in turn pushed up spending by foreign visitors, the agency said Wednesday.
The estimated number of foreign visitors to Japan also hit a record high in 2024, rising to 36,869,900, an increase of 47.1% from the previous year, according to the Japan National Tourism Organization. There were more visitors than before the COVID-19 pandemic, with 2019 having seen about 31.88 million visitors.
Visitors to Japan who spent the year-end and New Year holidays in Japan stood out in the shopping scene in Tokyo’s Ginza district in early January.
A 42-year-old man from France visiting with his family said that Japan is clean, it is easy to shop here, and the prices are low. He added that he would recommend Japan as a travel destination to his friends.
Visitors from the West
In 2024, the yen weakened against the dollar to levels not seen since 1986, with the currency briefly trading at around ¥161.90 to the dollar on the foreign exchange market.
The yen also depreciated against the euro, and the number of visitors to Japan from Europe and the United States increased. There were about 50% more visitors from Italy than in the previous year. France, Germany and the United States also sent about 30% more visitors than in the previous year, increasing per capita consumption by visitors.
In December 2024, tax-free sales at Daimaru Matsuzakaya Department Stores Co. increased by nearly 50% compared to the same month the previous year, while Takashimaya Co. saw a 30% increase.
Transportation services have also experienced high use, with Central Japan Railway Co. (JR Tokai) recording ¥52 billion in revenue from visitors to Japan from April to September 2024, up 120% from the same period in 2018, before the pandemic.
Meanwhile, hotels and other accommodation facilities have raked in higher profits. According to a survey by Tokyo Shoko Research Ltd., the average room rate for eight domestic business hotel brands from July to September 2024 was ¥13,088, up 13% year on year. But the higher room rates have not dampened enthusiasm for visiting Japan.
A leading ‘export’
Spending by foreign visitors to Japan is becoming an increasingly important part of the Japanese economy. Statistically, such spending is classified as an export.
Spending by foreign visitors to Japan exceeds the export values for semiconductors and steel. It is second only to the export value for automobiles, Japan’s main export, based on the annualized export values of major items from January to November 2024, according to trade statistics from the Finance Ministry.
“The export industry is struggling due in part to production bases being moved overseas,” said Shumpei Goto, a researcher at Japan Research Institute Ltd. “The economic impact of tourists visiting Japan is becoming a growth driver that is leading the Japanese economy.”
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