The Okinawa Tourism Convention Bureau (OCVB) has revealed that the number of incoming tourists in 2024 has reached 9,661,500.
While this represents a significant increase of 117.3% compared to the previous year, it remains at 95.1% compared to the record high in 2019. Although domestic arrivals by air surpassed both those in 2023 and 2019, the number of international arrivals by both air and sea fell short of 2019 levels.
For the fiscal year 2024, approximately 9.86 million tourists are expected, surpassing both the previous year and 2019 figures. Cruise ships from overseas are scheduled to make 15 calls in January, 14 in February, and 23 in March.
The average hotel rate from April to December exceeded the previous year’s rates only for mainland resorts, while falling slightly for remote island and city hotels. From January through March, remote island resorts are on a downward trend, while mainland resorts and city hotels are expected to slightly exceed the previous year’s rates. This is influenced by reactions to the nationwide travel support, high prices, and increased supply. Occupancy rates, however, have not risen.
Car rentals decreased significantly to 84.3% compared to the previous year from April to December, with a slight decline anticipated through March. Although increased competition from new operators and more vehicles has led to lower rates, demand is expected to stabilize at previous year levels in February due to high demand from professional baseball and soccer training camps.
During the Chinese New Year period, approximately 55,000 visitors are expected, a 1.6-fold increase from the previous year. By country, Taiwan and South Korea account for about 80% of the visitors. A charter flight from Vietnam was operated on January 30th to coincide with the Tet holiday.
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This article was generated using automatic translation by GPT-4 API. The translation may not be accurate.
