Japanese Tourism in Australia - Statistics [2020]

Updated: 24 August 2021

How many Japanese tourists visit Australia each year?

An estimated 375,370 visitors from Japan travelled to Australia for the year ending June 2020.1
  • Visitors from Japan decreased by 22.4% when compared with the 484,000 of the previous year
  • Japan was the 5th highest source of visitors to Australia in 2019/20
  • The effects of the coronavirus travel restrictions are the main cause of this dramatic decrease
Data source: ABS. Image credit: Camper Champ

How many Japanese tourists visited Australia in 2021?

Over 800 Japanese visitors came to Australia between April 2020 and March 2021. Visitors from Japan were down 99.8% when compared to the over 425,000 visitors of the previous year.

How much did Japanese visitors spend in 2021?

Visitors from Japan spent over $8.7 million during visits to Australia between April 2020 and March 2021. Spending by Japanese visitors was down 99.6% when compared to the over $1.9 billion spent during the previous year.

Impact of the Coronavirus on Japanese Tourist Expenditure

Japanese visitors spent an estimated $1.57 billion during visits to Australia in the year ending June 2020
  • Spending was down 25% when compared with the $2.04 billion of the previous year
Data source: TRA. Image credit: Camper Champ

How many Japanese tourists visited Australia in 2019?

Over 484,000 Japanese tourists visited Australia between July 2018 and June 2019.1

Japanese tourism through the years

  • Since peaking in 1995/96 with 813,500 visitors, Japanese tourism has generally been on the decline and only started to increase again in 2013/14.
  • Although Japanese tourism saw a 9.4% increase during the 2018/19 year, the current total is still 40% lower than the ’90s peak.
Japanese visitors to Australia between 1990 and 2019.
Data source: ABS. Image credit: Camper Champ

Why has Japanese tourism struggled through the years?

  • The economic situation is believed to be a major contributing factor to the lower numbers of tourists.
  • Japan’s economy has largely stagnated since the late ’90s, and average weekly earnings have not seen a dramatic change.2
  • On the other hand, Australia has had impressive economic performance over the last two decades and average weekly earnings have increased dramatically.
  • As wages have increased, so have prices in Australia, which has made Australia a much more expensive destination for Japanese tourists.
Australia and Japan average yearly wage between 1990 and 2019.
Data source: OECD. Image credit: Camper Champ

Japan's share in the Australian tourism industry

  • Japan accounted for 5.3% of all tourism in Australia during the 2018/19 year, being the 5th-largest source of visitors.

Top countries that sent visitors to Australia in 2019

Data source: ABS. Image credit: Camper Champ

Reasons Japanese tourists visit Australia

  • Holidays are cited as the most common reason Japanese tourists visit Australia.
  • The next most popular reasons are business and visiting friends and relatives.
Data Source: TRA. Image Credit: Camper Champ

Japan's contribution to tourism expenditure in Australia

  • At an estimated $2B in 2018/19, Japan accounted for 4.6% of all expenditure from international tourists, ranking 5th on Australia’s top list of spenders.3
Australian tourism top spenders in 2019 by country.
Data source: TRA. Image credit: Camper Champ

What do Japanese tourists spend on in Australia?

  • Japanese tourists have above average spending on tours and transport, with holidaymakers contributing the most to overall spending.
Australian visitor spends per day in 2019 (by country)
Data source: TRA. Image credit: Camper Champ

Japan's travel patterns and Australia's share

  • Despite having one of the strongest passports in the world, currently only around 25% of Japanese citizens own a passport.4
  • Taiwan, South Korea and Hawaii have been the top three travel destinations for Japanese tourists since 2008.
  • Australia ranked 9th on the list, according to one 2018 survey.
  • Australia ranked 6th on a list of places Japanese tourists would like to visit, indicating numbers could rise in the coming years.

Travel Statistics Resources

References

  1. ABS: Overseas Arrivals and Departures, Australia, August 2019 ↩
  2. OECD: Average Wage Data, 2018 ↩
  3. TRA: International Visitor Survey, 2019 ↩
  4. Henley Passport Index: Global Ranking, 2019 ↩
  5. Nippon.com: Taiwan the Top Overseas Destination for Japanese Travelers, November 2019 ↩