December 21, 2018
・Japan National Tourism Organization (JNTO) announces the number of visitor arrivals to Japan has reached 30.01 million as of December 18th, 2018.
・This number is the preliminary figure estimated by JNTO in cooperation with the Ministry of Justice
Comments from Satoshi Seino, the President of JNTO
This year, the number of international tourists visiting Japan exceeded 30 million for the first time. I wish to express my gratitude to everyone involved since the start of the Visit Japan Campaign in 2003 who has offered their support and cooperation in promoting inbound tourism to Japan.
Looking back on this year, Japan experienced a number of natural disasters in succession such as earthquakes and torrential rains. Although these events affected inbound tourism, Japan has recovered so rapidly up to today thanks to the nation-wide efforts and hit the record high. I am deeply grateful for this fact.
In order to achieve our goal of 40 million visitors by 2020, we will continue striving to expand inbound tourism to Japan.
Source: Changes in the number of visitor arrivals to Japan by year (2003-Dec.18, 2018)
*The figure for 2018 is a preliminary figure as of December 18, estimated by JNTO in cooperation with the Ministry of Justice.
◇For more information on inbound statistics:
Japan Tourism Statistics https://statistics.jnto.go.jp/en/ 
Inquiries: Global Strategy Headquarters Research & Marketing Section Email：data@jnto.go.jp
