Spending by foreign tourists to Japan increased 17.8 percent in 2017 from a year earlier to a record 4.42 trillion yen ($39.9 billion), as the number of travelers rose to an all-time high, the Japan Tourism Agency said Tuesday.
The surge in spending was boosted by robust increases in the number of visitors from Asia and their purchases, the agency said.
In 2017, the number of foreign tourists surged 19.3 percent from the previous year to a record 28,690,000.
Average spending per visitor fell 1.3 percent to 153,921 yen in 2017 following an 11.5 percent decrease the previous year, dragged down by a decline in "bakugai," or "explosive shopping," by Chinese tourists in the first half of the year, the agency said.
Chinese travelers spent 1.69 trillion yen in 2017, up 14.9 percent from a year earlier, followed by the 574.4 billion yen spent by Taiwanese, up 9.5 percent, and 512.6 billion yen by South Koreans, up 43.3 percent.
Spending per Chinese visitor dropped 0.5 percent to 230,382 yen last year but was still higher than around 200,000 yen spent on average by visitors from the United States and European nations. Spending per South Korean visitor totaled only 71,795 yen, although their total spending ranked third among all countries and regions.
