BANGKOK/TOKYO - Thai tourists to Japan ranked sixth in March, contributing to a total number of foreign visitors to the country that soared to over 3.08 million, marking the first time the tally exceeded the 3-million mark in a single month.
The largest number of travellers came from South Korea, totalling 663,100, up 13.2% from the pre-pandemic level in 2019. They were followed by travellers from Taiwan at 484,400, up 20.4%, and those from China at 452,400, down 34.6%, according to estimates from the Japan National Tourism Organization (JNTO).
Tourists from the United States ranked fourth at 290,100, up 64.3%, followed by Hong Kong at 231,400, up 35%.
Tourists from Thailand came in sixth at 131,700, a 10.7% drop from 2019. However, they led the number of foreign holidaymakers from Southeast Asia.
The amount of money spent by overseas travellers in Japan also reached a record 1.75 trillion yen (418 billion baht) for the first quarter of 2024, marking the highest ever for a three-month period, largely driven by a weak yen, according to the Japan Tourism Agency.
The report coincided with Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida presiding over a meeting of a ministerial council established to promote Japan as a tourism-oriented country.
"We can expect record highs for both arrivals and spending in 2024 if the current pace continues," Kishida said at the meeting.
The annual record of 31.88 million arrivals was set in the pre-pandemic era in 2019, while the previous monthly high of 2,991,189 arrivals was recorded in July 2019. Visitors spent a record 5.3 trillion yen in 2023.
As Japan aims to attract an annual 60 million foreign visitors by 2030, it faces various challenges, including the negative effects of the tourism boom such as littering and traffic congestion.
Kishida instructed relevant ministers to enhance measures to address "overtourism," including diverting tourists concentrated in urban areas to the country's rural parts.
The number of Japanese travelling overseas in the reporting month jumped 75.7% from a year earlier to 1,219,800 but was still down 36.8% compared with 2019.
The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) reported in March that there were more than 28 million foreign arrivals in the kingdom in 2023, with the largest number of travellers coming from Malaysia, totalling 4.2 million. Japan ranked 10th with 804,205.