More tourists arrived in Japan in October than in the same month in 2019 before the pandemic, a progression that will affect the economy after its slump over the summer.
The number of visitors is about 2. 52 million, up from 2. 50 million in October 2019, the Japan National Tourism Organization reported Wednesday.
Inbound tourism has been one of the few bright spots in Japan’s asymmetric economic recovery. Overseas travel to Japan has already surpassed pre-pandemic levels in the quarter ending in September, as the yen’s weaker stance this year boosted its purchasing power.
The tourism sector is an example of how the weak yen has benefited the economy. On the other hand, currency weakness has raised import prices for domestic buyers and businesses, fueling inflation.
Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki said the government aims to maximize the positive effects of the yen’s weakness and mitigate the negative effects of its new economic stimulus measures.
Since the beginning of the year, the yen has weakened by about 13% against the dollar and about 14% against the euro, expanding the spending capacity of foreign tourists.
The yen fell against the yuan and the Korean won.
Japan’s economy contracted more than expected in the third quarter, contracting by an annualized 2. 1%, largely due to reduced business spending, sluggish consumption and a drag on net exports.
A further increase in tourism this quarter could help push the country into a technical recession.
The number of visitors to South Korea in October was 631,100, more than 3 times the pre-pandemic figure. Visitors from Taiwan, Singapore and the United States also surpassed their respective grades in October 2019.
The number of Chinese visitors, which was the largest organization before the pandemic, fell 21% to about 256,300 from last month. That’s a two-thirds drop from October 4 years ago.
Its return has slowed despite the end of China’s ban on connecting to Japan in August. Tensions between the two countries continue to simmer over Japan’s discharge of treated wastewater from the Fukushima nuclear site into the sea.
While domestic demand remains weak, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has launched a stimulus package worth more than 17 trillion yen ($113 billion), focusing on tax cuts on the source of income and helping low-income families cope with emerging economies. costs caused in part by the yen’s weakness.
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