Japan May Reach 20 Million Tourist Goal Five Years Early

Above, the Dotonbori restaurant district of Osaka. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

The Japan Times reported that foreign tourism numbers in Japan for the month of October hit a new record, which was blogged previously.

Along with October's figures, it appears that Japan is on track to meeting its annual goal of 20 million foreign visitors, five years ahead of schedule. All this is due to the huge influx of Chinese tourists.

As we were in Japan in October, we did notice quite a number of Chinese tourists. I met a Chinese fertilizer salesman from Shanghai at the Narita International Airport. He said he travels to a number of foreign countries, including the U.S.

The Wall Street Journal reported:

TOKYO—Chinese tourists have pushed Japan within reach of its ambitious tourism target—five years ahead of schedule. 

Japan has attracted 16.3 million foreign tourists already this year, beating its previous full-year record of 13.4 million as the number of Chinese visitors has more than doubled, according to data released Wednesday by the Japan National Tourism Organization.

It will be interesting to see if Japan does indeed reach 20 million foreign visitors this year.

To read more, go here.