In this page, we review some statistics done by the Japanese Tourism Agency.

The Ministry of Tourism was created in 2008, so there is limited data, but there are still interesting results in the recent years.

We also review statistics about total units of Hotels, published by the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare.

Please click the link below to view Survey on Total guests of Hotels, and Total Unit of Hotels.

Notice the annual trend cycle of hotel guests in Japan. The annual peak seasons occur from the end of quarter 2 to the end quarter 3, a 13- 16% percent increase from the annual off peak seasons beginning from quarter 4 to mid quarter 2.

Period		Guest
2007	1Q	72,480,350
	2Q	73,031,310
	3Q	84,948,800
	4Q	78,921,320
2008	1Q	73,271,430
	2Q	73,173,770
	3Q	85,160,360
	4Q	78,093,170
2009	1Q	69,136,090
	2Q	67,424,670
	3Q	83,404,300
	4Q	72,989,300

Depending on location, the popularity of types of hotels vary greatly. In Hokkaido, the traditional Japanese ryokan is the most popular compared to  other Japan destinations.

Visitors most often travel to Hokkaido for nature, skiing and wide open space. It is best known for destination ski resorts in Asia due to its altitude and its consistent fine quality of snow.

In the urban capital of Tokyo, full service hotels and limited service hotels far outnumber other Japanese cities. Guests in Tokyo, are most likely to stay in full service hotels like Inter Continental, Hyatt or Hilton located in central Tokyo 5 wards. Limited budget/business travelers are more likely to choose limited service hotels such as Weekly Mansion and Sunroute Hotel. The price difference between full service and limited service hotels commonly range from 15,000 to 30,000+ JPY per night. Tokyo resorts are heavily concentrated in the Tokyo Disneyland area and are superbly attractive due to its year round astoundingly high occupancy. It is noteworthy to mention that due to rising income in China, demand for Disney hotels is increasing from single child Chinese families.

Osaka is most attractive in the business hotel segment due to its business and trade orientation. Osaka is often known as the center of trade in Japan for its sea, air and rail ports that are central to the majority of Japanese population.

Located just 1 hour away from Osaka by car or rail, Kyoto is a destination capital for traditional Japanese beauty and culture. Due to historic image preservation laws, taller buildings are strictly resisted against in Kyoto, much like Paris. Ryokans are especially popular to travellers who want to experience authentic, traditional Japanese culture.

Okinawa is best known for turquoise water and white sand beaches comparable to Hawaii, Cancun and Mediterranean countries. For this reason, beach resorts are in the highest popularity in all of Japan.

2009, Jan-Dec	Hotel Type
	Ryokan	Resort Hotel	Limited Service Hotel	Full Service Hotel
Hokkaidou	6,932,680	4,193,800	6,538,930	5,917,950
Tokyo	510,290	568,910	16,975,500	14,757,810
Osaka	195,980	762,640	7,788,760	5,819,690
Kyoto	2,367,870	575,420	2,138,890	3,274,760
Okinawa	91,460	6,817,500	1,781,320	2,536,020
Japan	77,077,730	53,876,670	100,986,540	57,219,840

(SOURCE) Japan Tourism Agency

As total units of hotels are increasing, Ryokans are suffering economically and dwindling in number.

The switchover from Japanese type Ryokan to western type Hotels is progressing in the chart below.

Notice that since the 1990′s, even though the total number of ryokan and hotel has been relatively stagnant, the number of ryokan has been progresively decreasing since the 1970′s. This could be due to increasing number of foreign guests that demand hotels in popular destinations. Another reason could be that hotels are better advertised, and have power in brand and financing. Ryokan has become a less popular investment for business owners because of more profitable and stable alternatives, however in certain locations ryokan are especially profitable such as hot spring destination, Hakone.

(SOURCE: Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare )

- Please click the links below to view past  “Hotel Transaction Record in Japan”

“Hotel Transaction Record in Japan from 2002 – 2010 (April)”

“Hotel Transaction Record in Japan from 2002 – 2009 (July)”

- Please click the links below to view past  “Hotels on Market Update”

“Hotels on Market Update – Feburary .2009″

“Hotels on Market Update – October .2009″

“Hotels on Market Update – July .2009 – Hotels & Ryokan (Small to Mid-Size)″

“Hotels on Market Update – April 23 .2009″

- Related reports

“Hotel occupancy rates in major Japanese cities and hotels – March 2010″

“Asia/Pacific region Hotel ADR / RevPAR /Occ.rate – March 2010″

“Hotel occupancy rates in major Japanese cities and hotels – Feburary 2010″

“Asia/Pacific region Hotel ADR / RevPAR /Occ.rate – Feburary 2010″

“Hotel occupancy rates in major Japanese cities and hotels – January 2010″

“Asia/Pacific region Hotel ADR / RevPAR /Occ.rate – December 2009″

“Hotel occupancy rates in major Japanese cities and hotels – December 2009″

“Asia/Pacific region Hotel ADR / RevPAR /Occ.rate – November 2009″

“Hotel occupancy rates in major Japanese cities and hotels – November  2009″

“Asia/Pacific region Hotel ADR / RevPAR /Occ.rate – November 2009″

“Hotel occupancy rates in major Japanese cities and hotels – October  2009″

“Asia/Pacific region Hotel ADR / RevPAR /Occ.rate – October 2009″

“Hotel occupancy rates in major Japanese cities and hotels – September  2009″

“Asia/Pacific region Hotel ADR / RevPAR /Occ.rate – September 2009″

“Hotel occupancy rates in major Japanese cities and hotels – August 2009″

“Asia/Pacific region Hotel ADR / RevPAR /Occ.rate – August 2009″

“Hotel occupancy rates in major Japanese cities and hotels – July 2009″

“Asia/Pacific region Hotel ADR / RevPAR /Occ.rate – July 2009″

“Hotel occupancy rates in major Japanese cities and hotels – June 2009″

“Asia/Pacific region Hotel ADR / RevPAR /Occ.rate – June 2009″

“Hotel occupancy rates in major Japanese cities and hotels . May 2009″

“Asia/Pacific region Hotel ADR / RevPAR /Occ.rate  May 2009″

“Hotel occupancy rates in major Japanese cities. April 2009″

“Asia/Pacific region Hotel ADR / RevPAR /Occ.rate  April 2009″

“Hotel occupancy rates in major Japanese cities. March 2009″

“Hotel occupancy rates in major Japanese cities. Feb 2009″

“Hotel transaction record in Japan”

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