The Hawai‘i Tourism Authority says figures show the islands are on pace to set another record for visitors this year. Another set of islands also appears to be headed for new levels of tourism in 2015: Japan. HPR’s Bill Dorman has details in today’s Asia Minute.
Japan is breaking all kinds of records when it comes to its tourist industry. For the first half of the year, visitor spending topped 7-billion dollars. The pace of spending picked up in the second quarter, in fact it set a record for the sixth quarter in a row. Ten million travelers have already made their way to Japan this year.
The government expects that number to settle around 18-million for the full year, which would be an increase of more than a third from 2014. It would also mark a big move toward the government’s goal of attracting 20-million visitors a year by 2020, when Tokyo hosts the Olympics.
Part of this year’s travel activity can be linked to a weaker yen. That’s the very same factor that’s behind a drop in the number of Japanese visitors to Hawai‘i, as well as their spending habits in the islands. But going the other way, a weaker yen helps stretch a vacation budget for travelers to Japan.
Another big factor: tourists from China. Japan’s government says 40% of the spending by all international visitors comes from Chinese…followed by Taiwanese and South Koreans. And similar to the case in Hawai‘i and other tourism markets, the Chinese spend more than anyone else. The Japan Tourism Agency says more than half of that money goes to shopping.
