D R A F T
Chapter 2:
Japan and The Tourism Industry
In this chapter I will offer some statistics about tourism as a worldwide phenomenon, with a focus on tourism in Japan. Tourism is the largest industry in the world and in 2006 there were approximately 900 million international visits by tourists. Some of these visits are by tourists in countries that are next to one another or very near one another, so they don’t tell us the whole story, but they do give us a good idea of the size of the industry. Countless other millions of tourists visited sites in their own country.
Statistics on Tourism
Though Japan is an industrial giant, and has a rich and fascinating culture, it is not a major tourist destination. But it is developing its tourism industry as the chart below shows.
Table 2.1: Growth of International Tourism in Japan
Year / 1990 / 1995 / 2000 / 2004Foreign Arrivals / 3226 / 3345 / 4527 / 6138
It is useful to know where foreign tourists who visit Japan come from.
The following table is drawn from the Japan Association of Travel Agents and lists the top visitors to Japan by nationality for 2002.
Table 2.2: Visitors to Japan by Nationality (2003)
Country / Number of VisitorsKorea / 1.2 million
Taiwan / 877,000
USA / 731,000
China / 452,000
United Kingdom / 219,000
Hong Kong / 136,000
Canada / 131,000
Philippines / 129,000
Germany / 93,000
France / 87,000
Singapore / 76,000
Thailand / 72,000
We can see that most of the foreign visitors to Japan come from Asian countries, with the exception of tourists from the United States. There are a large number of Japanese living in the United States and a number of these visits may be from Japanese who are returning home for one reason or another.
In 2003, Japan had around 5 million international visitors but about 15 million Japanese traveled abroad, a tourism imbalance of around three to one. An informant in the Japanese National Tourist Organization tells me that Japan hopes to have ten million international tourists by 2010, and is waging an aggressive advertising campaign to do so. To understand where Japan ranks in terms of international tourist arrivals in general, consider the chart on the world’s most important tourist destinations. It is derived from the World Tourist Organization and offers international arrivals in millions of visitors.
Table 2.3: Most Popular International Tourism Destinations
Country / 2004 Visitors / Population1. France / 75.1 million / 58 million
2. Spain / 52.4 million / 40 million
3. USA / 46.1 million / 300 million
4. China / 41.8 millions / 1.3 billion
5. Italy / 37.1 million / 57 million
6. United Kingdom / 27.8 million / 58 million
7. Hong Kong / 21.8 million / 5 million
8. German / 20.1 million / 81 million
9. Mexico / 19.7 million / 100 million
10. Austria / 19.4 million / 8 million
It is instructive to see which countries spend the most money on tourism. The table that follows lists the five countries that spend the most money on tourism.
Table 2.4: Expenses on Tourism by Countries
Country / 2001 (Billions of US Dollars)1. United States / 58.9
2. Germany / 46.2
3. United Kingdom / 38.5
4. Japan / 26.5
5. France / 17.7
The web site of the World Tourist Organization lists the top tourism spenders as the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Japan, and the United States. I offer a table that shows their expenses, the size of their populations and their per capita expenditures on tourism for 2005. This material was supplied by the United Nations World Tourism Organization.
Table 2.5: Per Capita Expenses on Tourism
Country / USA / Germany / UK / France / JapanExpenditure / 69.2 billion / 72.8 Billion / 59.6 Billion / 31.2 Billion / 37.5 Billion
Population / 300 Million / 82 Million / 60 Million / 61 Million / 127 Million
Per Capita / $234 / $882 / $987 / $514 / $295
Ranking / 5 / 2 / 1 / 3 / 4
This table shows that Japan comes in at fourth in terms of per capita expenditures on international tourism, so the Japanese travel to other countries
but other countries do not travel to Japan in great numbers. There is a correlation between the wealth of countries and international tourism. The countries with the largest per capita expenditures on tourism are also among the wealthiest countries in the world.
There is a correlation between the average number of vacation days in a country and tourism expenditures except for the United States. The following table lists the average number of vacations days by country and their ranking by per capita tourism expenditures..
Table 2.6: Average Number of Vacation Days by Country
Days / Country / Ranking37 / France / 3
35 / Germany / 2
28 / UK / 1
25 / Japan / 4
13 / USA / 5
Americans who travel abroad frequently can make arrangements to use stored-up vacation time so they can have more time on their trips, but obviously it is much easier for citizens of the countries with the most vacation days to travel for extended periods of time.
It is instructive to see what countries visitors to Japan come from.
In the table that follows, I list some of the most important countries that send tourists to Japan and give figures for their numbers for 2003.
Table 2.7: International Visitors to Japan (2003)
Country / Number of TouristsKorea / 1,270,000
Taiwan / 877,000
USA / 731,000
China / 452,000
UK / 219,000
Australia / 164,000
Hong Kong / 136,000
Philippines / 129,000
These countries are the only ones that sent more than 100,000 visitors to Japan. Quite likely, a number of these visits were not made by tourists but by
people doing business with Japanese companies. Since tourism has greatly
increased in Japan in recent years, these figures considerably underestimate the number of visitors to Japan in 2007.
We can see that most visitors to Japan come from Japan’s neighbors—Korea, Taiwan, China, Hong Kong and the Philippines.
The United States is the only exception, sending 731,000 visitors to Japan.
Germany only sent 93,000 visitors to Japan in 2003 and France only sent 87,000 visitors—which is interesting because Germany is second and France is third in terms of per capita expenses for tourism and they both provide their workers with in excess of twenty vacation days per year.
The statistics on world tourism show that Europe is the major tourist destination for tourists, with Asia and Pacific nations far below Europe. The chart below shows international tourism by regions. The data was supplied by the UNWTO.
Chart 2.8 International Tourism by Regional Market Share
Europe / Asia / Americas54.5 % / 20% / 16.5%
Obviously, Asian and Pacific countries have a great deal of work to do if they are to catch up to Western Europe, including Southern and Mediterranean Europe. Approximately 400 millions international visits were for recreation and leisure and about 120 million visits were for business or attending conventions. Finally, 185 million visits were to visit friends and relatives and for medical tourism purposes.
It is instructive to look at the international destinations of American tourists. In 2004, more than 27 million Americans traveled abroad, with large number of them going to European countries. In the chart that follows, I list the major destinations in terms of the numbers of Americans who visited each country. This data was supplied by the Office of Travel and Tourism Industries (OTTI) for 2004. In 2004, more than 60 million United States residents traveled abroad.
Chart 2.9: Major Destinations of American Tourists 2004
1. Mexico / 19,360,0002. Canada / 15,056,000
3. UK / 3,692,000
4. France / 2,407,000
5. Italy / 1,915,000
6. China / 1,805,000
PRC / 1,067,000
Hong Kong / 738,000
7. Germany / 1,750,000
8. Jamaica / 1,258,000
9. Japan / 1,067,000
These figures show that Japan ranks ninth in terms of foreign countries that American visit, ahead of Taiwan, Australia, Spain, Ireland, India, and Greece. So although Japan lags behind other Asian countries in terms of total number of foreign tourists, it is doing tolerably well as far as attracting people living in America for visits, either for family reasons, recreation, business meetings and conventions.
What Americans Do When They Visit Japan
Thanks to an in-flight survey sponsored by the United States Department of Commerce, we have a pretty good idea what U.S. travelers do when they visit Japan. This material comes from a survey conducted between January and December, 2005. I’ve rounded off the figures.
Table 2.10: Favorite Activities of US Residents in Japan (in Percentages)
Dining in Restaurants / 86Shopping / 80
Visit Historical Places / 48
Sightseeing in Cities / 41
Cultural Heritage Sites Visited / 34
Visit Small Towns / 30
Tour Countryside / 23
VisitArtGalleries, Museum / 18
Night Clubs, Dancing / 15
Guided Tours / 14
Amusement/Theme Parks / 14
Ethnic Heritage Sites / 14
National Parks / 9
This list suggests that tourists who visit Japan are primarily interested in Japanese culture and society in contrast to activities such as gambling (1.3%), attending sporting events (4.4%) or going on environmental/eco excursions (2.2%). Tourists generally are interested in foreign cuisines, which is a way of experiencing a different culture. This explains why dining is at the top of the list for Japan. It is at the top of the list for Western European countries and most of the other countries that Americans visited. Shopping is another important activity for tourists, who want to bring back souvenirs of the places they’ve visited or take advantage of bargains when that is possible. Most of the remaining items on the list involve seeing what is distinctive about Japanese culture: visiting cultural heritage sites, sightseeing in cities and then visiting small towns (where a different kind of Japan from huge cities like Tokyo can be experienced).