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TOKYO, Japan – Japan welcomed 2.79 million visitors in February, a record for the month and the most for any month since the COVID-19 pandemic began, boosted by travel during Lunar New Year holidays. Arrivals in February were 7.1% higher than in 2019, when the Lunar New Year also fell in the second month of the year rather than the first. For all of 2019, Japan welcomed a record 31.9 million visitors before the pandemic struck.
Current account data in January showed a record gain attributable to inbound tourism, illustrating the sector’s widening role in the economy. Visitors spent more than 5 trillion yen in the country last year for the first time, exceeding the government’s goal.