Visitation to Japan hit an all-time high in the 2024 calendar year.
Japan's inbound tourism figures saw the Asian nation welcomed 36.87 million tourists - up by more than 15% on 2019’s previous best of 31.88 million people, Japan National Tourism Organisation data shows.
Major growth markets were South Korea and the US, both up nearly 60%, although the number of visitors from mainland China was down 27%, news portal Travel Mole reported.
Major Japanese travel agency group JTB has said it expects inbound Japan tourism to surpass 40 million for the first time in 2025.
Tourism-related spending by foreign visitors reached a record Y8.14 trillion ($US 52 billion) in 2024.
This is a 69% increase on pre-pandemic 2019.
