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☆ Japan Sees Record 2.73 Million Visitors in December in COVID Recovery Year
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-17 | by ( Jan. | At A.M. | ) www.usnews.com time to read: +2 min

By Rocky SwiftTOKYO (Reuters) - Japan welcomed a record number of visitors in December, official data showed on Wednesday, closing out a year of rapid recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. The number of foreign visitors for business and leisure rose to 2.73 million last month from 2.44 million in November, data from the Japan National Tourism Organization (JNTO) showed. For the full-year 2023, a little more than 25 million visitors arrived in Japan, the agency said. Arrivals exceeded 2 million every month since June last year, boosted by a weakening in the yen that makes Japan cheaper compared to other destinations. That is helping to compensate for a slow recovery in visitors from mainland China, who made up nearly a third of all visitors and 40% of all tourist spending in Japan in 2019.

Persons: Rocky Swift TOKYO, Teppei Kawanishi, Kawanishi, Wanping Aw, Rocky Swift, Rashmi Aich, Tomasz Janowski Organizations: Japan National Tourism Organization, Tourism, mov Locations: Japan, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Asia, Singapore, Australia, China

☆ $800,000 tuna to be turned into sushi at Michelin-starred restaurant
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-06 | by ( Nathan Rennolds | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Read previewA bluefin tuna sold for 114.2 million Japanese yen, or nearly $800,000, at Tokyo's largest fish market is set to be served at a Michelin-starred restaurant in Japan. The prized tuna will be enjoyed by diners at the Michelin-starred sushi restaurant Onodera in Tokyo's upmarket Ginza district, reported The Japan Times. Media crowd around as a 524 pound bluefin tuna - which was purchased earlier in the day for $788,440 at the first tuna auction of the New Year in Tokyo on January 5, 2024. The world record price for a tuna was set in 2019, when the sushi tycoon and "Tuna King," Kiyoshi Kimura, paid $3.1 million for a 612-pound fish. AdvertisementDerek Wilcox, a chef trained in Japan and who worked there for 10 years, previously told Business Insider that bluefin tuna was "the most sought after."

Persons: —, Hiroki Matsushita, Yukitaka Yamaguchi, Bluefin, RICHARD A, BROOKS, Kiyoshi Kimura, Kimura, Derek Wilcox Organizations: Service, Michelin, Bloomberg, Business, Onodera Group, Japan Times, Media, Getty, Japan National Tourism Organization, AFP, Oma Locations: Japan, Aomori Prefecture, Ginza, Tokyo, AFP

☆ Want to avoid crowds while traveling? Here's the 'not hot' list for 2024
▼ + stars: | 2023-12-28 | by ( Quek Jie Ann | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

Adventure travel company Intrepid Travel's new "Not Hot" list is out — spotlighting overlooked travel spots around the world. The 2024 list calls attention to two destinations in Asia, two in Europe and one in Central America. Source: Intrepid TravelUnlike Italy's tourist-saturated Positano, travelers visiting Corsica can "enjoy a more authentic, tranquil, and immersive experience ... without the overwhelming crowds," according to a press release by Intrepid Travel. Intrepid Travel recommends Panama for those who wish to "immerse themselves in local traditions, folklore, and contemporary arts ... that differs from the more European-centric cultural landscape," the press release stated. Source: Intrepid Travel

Persons: Matt Berna, Nick Lim, Lim, Gonzalo Azumendi, Emberá, David C Tomlinson Organizations: Intrepid, Americas, Intrepid Travel, CNBC Travel, UNESCO, Heritage, Euromonitor International, Japan National Tourism Organization, Korea Tourism Organization, The Travel Corporation, CNBC, Trip.com, La Amistad, Bank, Getty Locations: Asia, Europe, Central America, Corsica Corsica, France, Corsica, Seoul Tokyo, Singapore, Seoul, Korea, Intrepid Travel Tokyo, Tokyo, Panama Panama, Central American, Costa Rica, Colombia, Panama, Panama Viejo, Casco, Darien, La, Guna, Corfu Greece, Santorini, Mykonos, Kefalonia, Corfu, Greece, Split, Dubrovnik, Croatia, Borneo Borneo, Southeast Asia, Malaysia, Brunei, Indonesia, Kalimantan, Indonesian, Sarawak, Sabah, Borneo, Malaysian, Indonesian's Kalimantan

☆ Japan has a glut of 8.5 million akiya, empty 'ghost houses' left to rot. Now Airbnb wants to fill them with tourists.
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-29 | by ( Matthew Loh | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Airbnb wants to use a growing glut of abandoned homes in Japan to boost its business. Japan has around 8.5 million akiya, or empty homes, as its population shrinks and ages. If the owners of idle assets refurbish them and convert them into lodgings, that would be a solution," Airbnb's head of Japan, Yasuyuki Tanabe, told Nikkei. Airbnb hopes to partner with businesses and local governments to encourage homeowners to invest in renovations, Tanabe told Nikkei. AdvertisementJapan has close to 8.5 million abandoned homesJapan has some 8.49 million akiya, or unoccupied homes, according to the government's Housing and Land Survey in 2018.

Persons: Airbnb, —, Yasuyuki Tanabe, Tanabe Organizations: Nikkei, Service, Survey, Nomura Research Institute, Japan National Tourism Organization Locations: Japan, Tourism

TOKYO, Nov 15 (Reuters) - Visitors to Japan exceeded pre-pandemic levels in October, official data showed on Wednesday, marking a full recovery in arrivals for the first time since the relaxation of border controls last year. The number of foreign visitors for business and leisure rose to 2.52 million last month from 2.18 million in September, data from the Japan National Tourism Organization (JNTO) showed. Reuters GraphicsVisitor numbers improved to 100.8% of levels seen in 2019 before the outbreak of COVID-19 led to travel curbs around the world. That year, Chinese accounted for nearly a third of all visitors and 40% of all tourist spending in Japan. Almost 20 million visitors have arrived in Japan in the first 10 months of 2023, JNTO data showed, compared to the record of about 32 million in all of 2019.

Persons: Rocky Swift, Miral Organizations: Visitors, Japan National Tourism Organization, Graphics, Thomson Locations: TOKYO, Japan, Southeast Asia, North America, Europe, Australia, Canada, Mexico, Germany, China

☆ Watch planes take off in Japan — from an onsen
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-28 | by ( Emi Jozuka | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

Opened last December, the Hotel Villa Fontaine Premier & Grand Haneda Airport has 1,717 rooms and is directly connected to Haneda International Airport Terminal 3. Tokyo has also announced plans to receive up to 60 million overseas visitors to the country by 2030. And as inbound tourism recovers, Haneda – which has been crowned the world’s most punctual mega-airport – hopes to ride that wave. Developers want to expand those routes to greater swathes of Japan as part of broader plans to help revitalize the country’s regions, according to Katsuyuki Tou, general manager of the Haneda Airport Garden. Tou explained that visitors to the multipurpose complex can already get a taste of what Japan offers.

☆ The Asian nation where 35% of people say they’ll 'never travel' again
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-19 | by ( Monica Pitrelli | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +7 min

Yet, no country came close to the travel reluctance shown in Japan, where some 35% of respondents said they don't intend to travel again. The survey asked about "any leisure travel" and did not differentiate between domestic or international travel plans, said Lindsey Roeschke, a travel and hospitality analyst at Morning Consult. The number of people who say they'll "never travel" again is nearly six times greater in Japan (35%) than in Germany (6%), according to Morning Consult's "The State of Travel & Hospitality" report. We expect to see a return to the pre-2020 demand for international travel sooner rather than later. The British artist known as Miles Takes told CNBC Travel that "international travel still seems a while away" for him.

☆ Hoping to beat the tourist crowd on your trip to Japan? That ship has sailed
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-29 | by ( Abigail Ng | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

I thought I managed to beat the tourist crowds on my recent trip to Japan. Visitors gather on a terrace near the Kiyomizu-dera to watch the sunset and autumn leaves in Kyoto, Japan. In the months before those rules were lifted on Oct. 11, there were fewer traffic jams and queues, said Aw. Tokudaw's Aw said bookings with her company remain strong for the year-end period, at around 85% of pre-Covid levels. Travel, however, told CNBC Travel that its customers from Singapore have made bookings all the way through to April.

☆ Foreign visitors in Japan surge after tourism reopening
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-16 | by ( Elaine Lies | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

TOKYO, Nov 16 (Reuters) - The number of foreign visitors to Japan rose to nearly 500,000 in October, the first month it fully reopened to overseas visitors after more than two years of COVID restrictions, more than doubling the volume from September. The number of foreign visitors, for both tourism and business, rose to 498,600 in October, more than double September's 206,500 and surging a massive 2,155% from the year before, the Japan National Tourism Organization said, though it was still down 80% on 2019. This year, 1.52 million foreign visitors have arrived, a far cry from the record 31.8 million in 2019 and the government's 2020 goal - pegged to the Summer Olympics, that were ultimately postponed - of 40 million. "We are seeing the weak yen in a positive way," he said. Japan said on Tuesday it was reopening its ports to cruise ships from March 2023, with some 166 ships slated to visit next year, industry group Japan International Cruise Committee (JICC).

☆ The yen may be weak, but Japan's tourism isn't expected to get a 'bona fide' rebound without Chinese visitors
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-13 | by ( Charmaine Jacob | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

After more than two years of strict Covid-19 border controls, Japan reinstated visa-free travel to 68 countries on Tuesday. After more than two years of strict Covid border controls, Japan reinstated visa-free travel to 68 countries on Tuesday. With the easing of restrictions and the depreciating yen, tourism to the country will return quickly — especially from Asia, said Jesper Koll, director of financial services firm Monex Group told CNBC. "The cheapness of the yen obviously increases the probability of tourism contributing greatly to the economy," Koll said. "As the restrictions get rolled back further, and the capacity of inbound flights open up, I expect that we will see inbound spending and inbound tourism accelerate very, very quickly."

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