Thanks in part to a weakening yen, Japan saw 3.04 million international visitors in May, marking a 60.1 percent increase from the same month last year and exceeding the 3 million mark for the third consecutive month, according to government data released on Wednesday.
The Japan National Tourism Organization attributed the high number of tourist arrivals to the China holiday season and an uptick in aircraft and ship arrivals from East Asia.
In May, tourists from over a dozen countries and regions, including South Korea and the US, reached record numbers.
From January to May, the total number of visitors was 14.64 million, a 6.5 percent increase over the same period in 2019 before the COVID-19 pandemic.
South Korea contributed the most visitors, with 738,800, up 22.4 percent from 2019 and 43.3 percent from the previous year. China was second with 545,400 visitors, more than four times the figure from a year earlier but still down 27.9 percent from 2019.
Preliminary data from the organization showed that U.S. tourists totaled 247,000, a 34.7 percent increase from the previous year and a 57.4 percent rise compared to May 2019. Taiwan was third with 466,000 visitors, up 53.6 percent from last year and 9.3 percent from 2019.
At a press conference, Japan Tourism Agency Commissioner Ichiro Takahashi said that if the current growth rate continues, the total number of visitors in 2024 could surpass the record 31.88 million set in 2019.
Meanwhile, 941,700 Japanese traveled abroad in May, up 39.4 percent from the previous year but down 34.5 percent from 2019.