Recently, not a day goes by without seeing foreign tourists visiting Japan. Buses, subways, bullet trains, etc. are increasing everywhere.
According to official statistics of foreign visitors to Japan, the number of foreign visitors to Japan in June 2023 exceeded 2 million for the first time since the coronavirus pandemic. The total number of visitors from January to June reached 10.71 million. Compared to 2019, it is minus 35.6%. In terms of real numbers, it is a rapid recovery.

By country, the number of countries exceeding the January-June period of 2019 before the coronavirus is increasing. Vietnam, Singapore, the United States, Mexico, and the Middle East have increased by more than 10% compared to 2019. Eight out of 23 countries/regions have surpassed 2019. On the whole, China and Russia have fallen sharply. Excluding these two countries, the economy has recovered to minus 16.2% compared to 2019. For foreigners, traveling to Japan has become much cheaper due to the weaker yen. The number of foreign visitors to Japan is recovering rapidly thanks to the economic resumption and the effects of the weaker yen.
In the future, if the ban on Chinese group tours is lifted, the overall increase in foreign visitors to Japan will be further boosted.

On April 28th, 2023, Japan’s border measures will effectively remove restrictions on foreigners. Originally, it is reciprocity, so it is not surprising that restrictions on group tours on the Chinese side will be lifted at any time. My guess is that sooner or later there will be no restrictions on group travel.
What we would like to focus on is the increase in the consumption of visitors to Japan. According to a survey that looked at the amount of consumption per person from April to June 2023, it was 204,509 yen (1.32 times more than in 2019). The 10.71 million visitors to Japan from January to June spent half a year on foreign visitors to Japan, which amounts to 2.22 trillion yen.

This amount is equivalent to about half (46%) of the annual consumption of 4.81 trillion yen in 2019. In other words, if converted to an annual basis from January to December, the amount of inbound travel to Japan will already be about the same as in 2019, before COVID-19. If this momentum continues, 2023 will surpass 2019 and set a record high.
By the way, what is behind the dramatic increase in consumption per person to 205,000 yen? Certainly, the depreciation of the yen is a big factor in making travel to Japan cheaper. When I looked into it, I found that not only that, but they were staying for a long time.

From April to June 2019, the average per person was 8.0 days. In contrast, April-June 2013 was 10.0 days (1.25 times longer).
This figure includes business travelers as well as tourists. Perhaps the background is that remote work has progressed in post-corona work styles, and it has become possible to work while staying in Japan. Workation is considered to be a popular way of working among foreign visitors to Japan.

The introduction of IT has made it possible to stay longer, which is believed to have led to increased consumption in Japan.
Many of the countries where the number of foreign visitors to Japan is increasing are far from Japan due to distance. This can also be considered a benefit of workcation.