KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 17 — Japan continues to be a top destination for many travellers worldwide and Malaysians are no exception.
The latest data from the Japan National Tourism Organisation (JNTO) showed just how many Malaysians have visited the Land of the Rising Sun this year compared to 2023.
Just last month alone Japan welcomed 39,000 Malaysian visitors — an impressive 44.9 per cent increase when compared to September 2023.
This growth is part of a larger trend, as Malaysia’s cumulative visitor count from January to September of 2024 stands at 318,200.
Compared to the same nine-month period last year, this marks a notable 23.1 per cent rise.
Overall, from January through September 2024, Japan saw a total of 26.88 million foreign visitors, surpassing the 25.07 million visitors recorded in all of 2023.
This represents a 54.7 per cent increase compared to the same period last year.
In September alone too, foreign visitor numbers reached 2.87 million, a 31.5 per cent increase from the previous year and a 26.4 percent rise compared to September 2019, before the Covid-19 pandemic.
South Korea accounted for the largest number of visitors in September, with 656,700 tourist arrivals, an increase of 15.1 per cent year-on-year.
Visitors from China more than doubled to 652,300, while Taiwan saw a 22.2 per cent increase to 470,600, and Hong Kong recorded a 12.6 per cent rise to 170,200.
The number of travellers from the United States also grew by 22.5 per cent to 191,900 in September.
Tourist arrivals from the Middle East hit a record high of 14,200, up 14.8 per cent, following an increase in direct flights, including connections between Istanbul and Japan’s Kansai region.
At the same time, Japanese outbound tourism is also on the rise. In September, 1.2 million Japanese tourists traveled abroad, up 20.7 per cent from a year earlier, although still 30.8 per cent below the levels seen in 2019.
