Visitors’ spending in Japan achieved yet another record high in 2015, at a total of some 3.5 trillion yen, surpassing the 2014 record of 2.0278 trillion yen, according to Japan’s Minister of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism Keiichi Ishii. Japan’s tourism authorities are confident that the goal of having four trillion yen in annual tourism receipt will be imminent with the ongoing increase of visitor numbers and the broadening scope of duty-free products for overseas visitors stimulating tourists spending.

The Japanese government estimates that visitors made almost 20 million trips to Japan in 2015, a big jump from 13.41 million trips recorded in 2014. The extension of duty-free products to include food and consumer items in 2014 have led to buying frenzy epitomized by Chinese visitors’ “explosive buying”.

It has been the Japanese government’s previously set goal to reach a target of 20 million visitor arrivals and four trillion yen in tourism receipt annually. A new target is expected before the end of March. Mr. Ishii said: “This (tourism) is providing a huge boost to the country’s economy. On the other hand, there still exists many issues to address for better reception of tourists.”

Visitors to Japan spent 2.5967 trillion yen in the first nine months of 2015, among which Chinese visitors accounted for 1.1016 trillion yen, according to Japan Tourism Agency’s data.(Translation by David)