Japan received 30 million visitors in 2018, and 112,900 of them were Spanish, 20% more than the previous year.
There’s no doubting that Japan is in with Spaniards. The numbers say it all, more than 112,900 Spaniards visited the country between January and November 2018. According to data from the Japan National Tourism Organization (JNTO) this accounts for an increase of 20% compared to the same period in 2017.
99,800 Spanish tourists visited Japan in 2017, an increase of 8.8% on 2016, and 112,900 Spaniards visited Japan in 2018, which shows this positive trend in visitors from Spain is showing no sign of letting up.
These figures place Spain among the leading countries that visited Japan most between January and November 2018, behind Vietnam (26.1%) Russia (23.8%) and Italy (21.2%) and ahead of the Philippines (19.4%), China (14.6%) and Indonesia (14.6%).
30 million visitors
According to figures released by the JNTO last December, the number of international tourists who visited Japan in 2018 hit an all-time high of 30 million. Satoshi Seino, the JNTO President, said: “I would like to thank all those who have been involved since the start of the “Visit Japan” campaign in 2003 and have offered their support and cooperation in promoting inbound tourism in Japan”.
Despite recent natural disasters, earthquakes and torrential rains, Japan has recovered rapidly, said Seino, a recovery driven by the efforts of the entire country, which has made it possible to reach record numbers. “We’ll continue our efforts to encourage foreign tourists to visit Japan to reach our goal of 40 million visitors by 2020.”
The Japan National Tourism Organization has also developed several tools to improve visitors’ experience in the destination, including the “Japan Official Travel App” with updated information to travel comfortably and safely in the country; “Japan Safe Travel”, a Twitter profile providing travellers with useful information about weather alerts, warnings and the latest news on travel services in the event of a natural disaster, and a “Japan Visitor Hotline” (050-3816-2787) in English that’s available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year for foreign visitors.
Tourism Office in Madrid
This increase in the number of visitors shows Spain’s growing interest in Japan, which now has five direct flights a week between Madrid and Tokyo since last October.
Japan is also a hugely popular honeymoon destination as it offers unique experiences, modernity, culture and tradition, many attractions to visit all year round and is a safe country to visit.
Japan officially opened the new JNTO office in the Spanish capital in May 2017 to provide information to all those interested in visiting Japan and collaborate with companies from the tourism sector.
