According to a report by the Japan Economic News on July 20th local time, Japanese hotel operator Mori Trust released a forecast on July 14th stating that the number of foreign tourists visiting Japan will decrease by 2%-5% in 2026, reaching between 40.5 million and 42 million people. This figure is expected to be lower than the historical peak of 42.68 million people set in 2025. The slowdown in growth of tourists visiting Japan is due to a decrease in the number of Chinese tourists and the high travel costs caused by the situation in the Middle East.
From January to May this year, the number of Chinese tourists visiting Japan decreased by 56%. The number of tourists from other countries and regions visiting Japan increased by 14%. According to estimates by Mori Trust, if the trend continues in the second half of the year, the number of tourists visiting Japan will reach approximately 42 million. Even if the growth rate of overseas tourists slows down in the second half of the year, the total number of tourists will still remain between 40.5 million and 41.6 million.
Reports indicate that Japan’s annual tourism revenue is expected to fall short of the historical peak set in 2025 (9.4549 trillion yen). Although the unit price of hotel rooms continues to rise, the number of Chinese tourists has decreased, resulting in weak growth in per capita consumption.
The goal set by the Japanese government is to reach 60 million visitors to Japan and an annual tourism revenue of 15 trillion yen by 2030. Mori Trust predicts that this goal can be achieved if visitors from countries and regions other than China maintain an annual growth rate of 10% after 2027.
According to reports, Men Trust currently operates 35 hotels across Japan, and plans to develop another 16 hotels.
