Foreign Tourists Are Flocking To Japan To Spend

Above, the upscale shopping district of Ginza, Tokyo. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

The Saskatoon StarPhoenix has an article on how the Japanese yen is causing foreign tourists to flock to Japan and spend.

They wrote:

A record 11 million foreign tourists visited Japan in the first 10 months of this year, up 27 per cent from the same period in 2013, with more than half from elsewhere in Asia, government data shows. The tourism boom may signal a lower yen is starting to help the world's third-largest economy, which last quarter slipped into its fourth recession since 2008. 

The yen has depreciated against 27 of the 31 most-traded currencies since mid-year as well as all its Asian peers as the Bank of Japan expands the money supply to encourage growth. It slumped to an all-time low of 92.13 yen per Singapore dollar Dec. 8, when it also touched the weakest versus Thailand's baht since 2008 and a seven-year low of 121.85 to the U.S. dollar.

The weakened yen has made Japanese goods and services more affordable for foreigners. This is a big help to the Japanese economy, which is trying to break out of its forth recession.

Foreign visitors will boost spending in Japan by 13 per cent this year from the 1.47 trillion yen ($12.4 billion) they outlayed this year, according to the World Travel Tourism Council. Travel and tourism's total contribution to Japan last year was equal to about seven per cent of the economy, the organization said in a report on its website.

To read more, go here.