Japanese tourists “vanishing” from the U.S.
The Honolulu Advertiser had an article earlier this week about the declining number of Japanese tourists visiting the United States:
The number of visitors from Japan is now on the decline after several years of heady growth.
Commerce Department data show that 3.7 million Japanese tourists visited the U.S. in 2006, down 5 percent from 2005, and 32 percent below the record of 5.4 million visitors set in 1997.
Japanese spent $16.03 billion during their U.S. vacations in 2006, and were the fourth-largest group of visitors to the U.S., behind Canada, Mexico and the United Kingdom.
In Hawai’i, tourism officials forecast that the number of visitors from Japan will to dip this year to 1.28 million after peaking at 2.2 million in 1997. One of the reasons cited for the decline is the increase in the fuel surcharge levied by Japanese airlines, which now tack on about $400 to each round-trip ticket.
Officials are trying to figure out new ways of attracting Japanese tourists, but it looks like the decline of the dollar is doing their job for them. The last few days have see the yen rise to a 13-year high vs. the dollar, which will make it far cheaper for Japanese tourists to travel around and shop in the United States.
