Japan breaks annual visitor record with 33.4 million in 11 months

By Reuters December 18, 2024 | 06:21 pm PT

People walk along Takeshita street at Harajuku shopping area in Tokyo, Japan, Aug. 10, 2024. Photo by Reuters

Japan set a new annual record for visitor arrivals with one month to spare, official data showed on Wednesday, as the weak yen helped propel the nation's tourism boom.

November saw 3.19 million foreign visitors for business and leisure, data from the Japan National Tourism Organization showed, bringing the total for 2024 so far to 33.4 million.

That eclipsed the previous annual record of 31.9 million set in 2019 before the Covid-19 pandemic shut global borders.

The November arrivals edged down from 3.31 million visitors in October, the most for any month on record.