Tourism Statistics System in Japan

Since the beginning of the 21st century, the development of tourism statistics has been steadily progressing, guided mainly by the Japan Tourism Agency.The purpose of this paper is to explain the content of the Japanese tourism statistics system from the perspective of both government and regional statistics, and to demonstrate the high standards by which these statistics were compiled.In order to clarify these standards, the author has performed principal component analysis (a multivariate analysis technique) using Japanese accommodation survey and conducted a regional comparison of the tourist accommodation sector.Government statistics include surveys of accommodation, tourist arrivals, tourism expenditure and foreign tourist expenditure.A statistical system has also been built in order to make comparisons both over time and between regions possible.There is a long history of regional tourism statistics centred on tourist arrival numbers.These surveys not only identify the number of visitors by year but also make detailed classifications regarding factors such as the number of visitors by municipality, region, purpose, major tourist facility and time period.The Japan Tourism Agency is working towards the development of common standards, thereby resolving issues such as data reliability and inter-regional comparison.Japanese tourism statistics are currently compiled by close government and regional collaboration.