6.18 Million Koreans Traveled to Japan This Year... 28% of Total Tourists, Ranked 1st

22.33 million visitors from January to November
6.1758 million Koreans

Due to the weak yen and other factors, the number of foreign visitors to Japan this year exceeded 20 million for the first time in four years since the COVID-19 pandemic. Among them, Koreans accounted for the largest number of foreign visitors to Japan by country, with 6.18 million.

According to the Japan National Tourism Organization (JNTO) and the Asahi Shimbun on the 21st, the number of foreign visitors to Japan in November was counted at 2,440,800. This figure is 2.6 times that of the same month last year. Accordingly, the cumulative number of foreign visitors to Japan from January to November this year reached 22,332,000, surpassing 20 million for the first time in four years since 2019, and it is expected to record around 25 million for the entire year including December.

The photo is not related to the specific content of the article. [Image source=Pixabay]

Looking at foreign visitors by country from January to November, Koreans were the most numerous, accounting for 27.7% of the total with 6,175,800 visitors. This is a 15.7% increase compared to the same period in 2019. Following Koreans, Taiwan (3,802,900), China (2,112,600), and Hong Kong (1,860,000) were the next most frequent visitors to Japan.

The number of foreign visitors to Japan recorded a record high of 31.88 million in 2019 but sharply declined due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Additionally, visits by Chinese tourists, who accounted for about one-third of foreign visitors before COVID-19, drastically decreased due to anti-Japanese sentiment caused by issues such as the discharge of contaminated water from Fukushima into the ocean. Nevertheless, the cumulative number of foreign visitors to Japan from January to November this year increased 9.1 times compared to the same period last year, recovering to about 80% of the 2019 level just before the pandemic.

Meanwhile, according to the Korea Tourism Organization, the number of foreign tourists visiting Korea from January to October this year was 8,880,500. This is four times the number during the same period last year and has recovered to 61% compared to the same period in 2019, when the number of foreign tourists visiting Korea was the highest. The total number of foreign tourists visiting Korea in 2019 was counted at 17,502,613.

A foreign tourist dressed in hanbok taking photos in front of Gyeongbokgung Palace. Photo by Yongjun Cho jun21@

By country, the number of foreign tourists visiting Korea from January to October this year was highest from Japan with 1,842,238 visitors, followed by China (1,544,280) and the United States (914,626).

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Korea Tourism Year Committee have declared 2023?2024 as the Korea Tourism Year and set a goal to achieve 30 million foreign tourists and 30 billion dollars in tourism revenue by 2027.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.