In 2013, the government set what was thought to be an ambitious target of 20 million visitors by 2020, but by the end of this year alone, Japan is likely to hit around 19.9 million visitors. Japan National Tourism Organisation (JNTO) said global visitor numbers were already up 49% year-on-year for January to September 2015.
The sharp rise has been attributed to the cheaper yen and airfares.
“Japan has long been considered a bucket list destination, with real desire and demand for people to travel there, but at the moment, with the weak yen and great value airfares in the market, people are realising now is a great time to book,” said Kylie Clark, head of marketing and communications at JNTO.
She said that next year Japan would start its build up to hosting the 2020 Olympics and 2019 Rugby World Cup.
The country is also looking ahead to new transport developments such as flights from Helsinki to Fukuoka with Finnair from May 2016 and a new route for the Shinkansen, or “bullet train”, for Hokkaido in March.
Hokkaido is the second largest, northernmost and least developed of Japan’s four main islands and the Shinkansen will connect it via the Seikan Tunnel with the Shin-Aomori- Tokyo route.
