Overseas visitors’ spending in Japan in Q1 this year leapt 64.4% year on year to a total of 706.6 billion yen, achieving a record high for the fifth quarter in a row, according to the 2015 Q1 International Visitor Consumer Trends Report released by the Japan Tourism Agency.
Chinese visitors to Japan have been on a shopping spree spending 2.3 times more in Q1 this year than the same period last year. The total Chinese expenditure of 277.5 billion yen in Q1 accounted for about 39.9% of the total spending by international visitors. This has made Chinese visitors the darlings of Japan’s tourism and retail industries and has helped spur Japan’s domestic spending.
The tourism expenditures included spending on accommodation, dining, transportation, entertainment and shopping. The yen’s devaluation, the expanded range of duty free goods since last October and the relaxation of visa requirements this January are cited in the report as the major reasons for the spending boom. The huge increase in spending by Chinese visitors also fuelled overall spending by foreign visitors.
Japan received 923,500 Chinese visitors in Q1, a y-o-y increase of 93.2%. Chinese visitors spent an average of 300,434 yen per person in this period, 20.9% more than the per capita spend of 248,000 yen in the same period last year. The other big spenders were Australian visitors, with per capita spending of 247,643 yen, and Thais, spending 179,276 yen on average per person.
Unlike the Australian visitors who spent the most on accommodation and dining, Chinese visitors forked out 60% of total spending on shopping. The average Chinese visitor spent 176,975 yen on shopping, but only 52,868 yen on accommodation, 43,501 yen on dining, 20,256 yen on transportation, 5,184 yen on entertainment, and 1,651 yen on other expenses.(Translation by David)
