World's most favorite travel destination receives highest monthly arrivals in January

By Hoang Vu February 22, 2025 | 03:00 pm PT

A crowd of tourists are seen at Kiyomizu-dera temple in Kyoto, western Japan on March 30, 2023. Photo by Reuters

Japan, recently voted the world’s most favorite travel destination, welcomed a record 3.78 million foreign visitors in January, a 40% increase from the same period last year, driven largely by a surge in Chinese arrivals.

Mainland China was the largest source of visitors to the country with 980,300 arrivals, more than double the number from January 2024, thanks to improved flight connectivity and diverse activities during the Chinese New Year holiday, according to the Japan National Tourism Organization.

South Korea ranked second with 967,100 visitors, followed by Taiwan with 593,000 and Hong Kong with 243,700, Japan Today reported.

Australia and the U.S. rounded out the top five.

In 2024, Japan welcomed over 36.8 million international visitors, surpassing the previous record of nearly 32 million set in 2019.

A weak yen and intensified tourism campaigns have contributed to the surge in arrivals.

Japan was named the world's most popular travel destination in the 2024 edition of Condé Nast Traveler’s annual Readers' Choice Awards.

However, the death of Taiwanese actress Barbie Hsu at the age of 49 on Feb. 2 from influenza-related pneumonia during a family trip to Japan for the Lunar New Year holidays prompted health experts in Thailand and Hong Kong to advise their nationals to reconsider plans to travel there.