Tourists walk past shops and restaurants up the hill leading to Kiyomizu-dera Temple in the city of Kyoto on Jan. 13, 2025. Photo by AFP
Japan, voted as “world’s most favorite destination” this year by readers of Condé Nast Traveler, welcomed 3.89 million foreign visitors last month, up 17.6% year-on-year and marking a record high for the month.
The increase in visitors to Japan in October was partly due to the country’s autumn foliage season, Japan Tourism Agency Commissioner Shigeki Murata said at a news conference as cited by Japan Times.
The total number of foreign visitors between January and October totaled 35.5 million and is expected to exceed 40 million for the first time ever in 2025, Kyodo News Agency reported.
Mainland China remained the largest source of visitors to Japan in the first 10 months of this year, at about 8.2 million, up 40.7% year on year and accounting for some 20% of the total.
However, Japan’s tourism industry has expressed concern about a fall in Chinese visitor numbers after Beijing issued a travel warning to its citizens against visiting the country amid mounting tensions.
The diplomatic tensions were caused by remarks from Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi that use of force against Taiwan could warrant a military response from Tokyo, AFP reported.
Li Hanming, an aviation analyst, told AFP that around 500,000 tickets from China to Japan had been canceled since Nov. 15.
