According to a survey by the Japan Tourism Agency, the average per capita spending by visitors to Japan in Q3 exceeded JPY150,000 (approx.:RMB8,063) for the first time. Spending on souvenirs increased 17.2% with the most popular items being electronics, cosmetics and confectionary. Meanwhile mainland Chinese tourists gave a big boost to the retail sector and the popularity of Japanese cuisine worldwide has bolstered spending on dining.
Average per capita spending by visitors to Japan rose 12.7% year-over-year, to JPY158,257(approx. RMB8,506) in Q3 of 2014. Spending by visitors from Asia showed the strongest growth, with mainland Chinese visitors spending 18.7% more, at JPY236,353 (RMB12,700) per person.
Expenditure on shopping rose 17.2% to JPY53,047 and spending on dining rose 16% to JPY 34,596. Spending on transportation was also up 17.4% to JPY17,108.
Chinese visitors' shopping expenditure increased 18.7% to JPY 121,384 per person while spending by Korean and American visitors dropped 23.5% and 9.2% respectively.
Japanese cuisine turns out to be a major drawcard for visitors, with 76.6% of the survey's respondents indicating they most looked forward to sampling Japanese cuisine, 93.1% of respondents said they had tasted Japanese food while in Japan, topping the to-do list in Japan, and more than half said they would like to enjoy Japanese cuisine when they visit Japan again.(Translation by David)
