Photo/Illutration The area around Dazaifu Tenmangu shrine is crowded with tourists in Dazaifu, Fukuoka Prefecture, on Aug. 12. (Asahi Shimbun file photo)

A whopping 3,292,500 foreign tourists visited Japan in July, a record high for a single month, the Japan National Tourism Organization (JNTO) announced.

The total number of visitors from January to July in 2024 totaled 21,069,900, exceeding the 20-million mark at an unprecedented speed.

This is the fifth consecutive month in which more than 3 million tourists have visited Japan.

Because schools in many countries have their summer vacations during July, tourists poured in from all over the world, including Western and Asian countries.

The increased number of flights and new routes to Japan introduced by airlines, along with the arrival of cruise ships, also boosted the high number of visitors.

Tourists from China were the largest demographic at 776,500, followed by those from South Korea and Taiwan.

This is the first time that China has topped the list since Japan’s COVID-19 travel restrictions were lifted in October 2022.

However, the number of Chinese visitors is still only 73.9 percent of what it had been in July 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Japanese government aims to surpass the 31.88 million foreign tourists who visited Japan in 2019 by 2025 and reach 60 million inbound tourists by 2030.

The Japan Tourism Agency estimates that the total number of foreign visitors to Japan in 2024 will hit 35 million if this trend continues.

Accommodation facilities need to grow their workforces as quickly as possible to meet the increasing demand.

In Osaka, the Rihga Royal Hotel decided to hire more high school graduates and started recruiting nationwide.

The hotel also improved employees’ working conditions by raising their housing allowance from a uniform 20,000 yen ($137.80) to a maximum of 50,000 yen. 

Despite this, the hotel is suffering from worker shortages, particularly of chefs.

The hotel previously only hired chefs trained at vocational schools or other institutions. However, starting in April this year, it began hiring people without previous formal training, hoping they can learn on the job.

“We are trying to hire more people,” said a hotel official. “It is difficult to find workers who already have the experience or the skills for the job, so we need to train them.”

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