Tourism is an extremely wide-ranging industry, encompassing the travel, accommodations, transportation, restaurant, souvenir and other businesses. Its economic impact is also quite large, and the FY2008 estimate of production impact including secondary economic ripple effect is 5.3% of the GDP (¥972 trillion) or ¥51.4 trillion. In terms of its effect on employment, the industry is estimated to employ 4.3 million, 6.7% of the total employment figure of 64.45 million.
Economic Ripple Effect
As this illustrates, tourism bears a large influence on our economy, job creation and regional revitalization, and can be considered a leading industry for the 21st century. In particular, an increase in the number of overseas travelers to Japan not only enhances mutual international understanding, but also produces major economic impact such as a climb in domestic travel spending and regional revitalization due to promotion of related industries and job creation. It is therefore important that we work on building a tourism nation through the creation, rediscovery and improvement of tourism resources such as the natural environment, history and culture, and publicize these domestically and internationally. However, the number of international travelers to Japan in 2008 was approximately 8.351 million, much fewer than the approximately 15.99 million Japanese travelers to overseas. In comparison with other nations, Japan ranks quite low as a destination country, at 28th in the world and 6th in Asia (2008 figures).
Number of Inbound and Outbound Travelers
Ranking of Inbound and Outbound Travel
