International tourist arrivals to Japan increased 28.2% YoY in the first half of 2016, to 11.714 million, breaching the 10 million mark in six months for the first time, Japan National Tourism Organization (JNTO) announced.

Arrivals from China grew 41.2% YoY to 3.0766 million, equivalent to 26.26% of Japan’s total inbound arrivals. The country also received 2.383 million visitors from South Korea and 2.1558 million from Taiwan.

Arrivals from China grew every month during the period, except in May. The arrival number went up 22.6% in the six months, from 475,100 in January to about 582,500 in June. 

JNTO attributed the increase to expansion of air routes between China and Japan, the three-day (June 9-11) holiday for the traditional Chinese Dragon Boat Day, and enhanced destination marketing by Japan.

The Japanese government has revised its annual visitor traffic target for 2020 to 40 million in June, as the previous target of 20 million tourist arrivals by 2020 is already within reach, thanks to relaxed visa policies and the depreciated yen.

Japanese media have identified accommodation standard as a key problem for tourism development, as hotels in major destination cities are seeing high occupancy rates yet home-stay accommodation is yet to be regulated. (Translated by Jerry)