Japan’s love affair with US travel fades amid ‘very tough’ tourism market
The slowdown points to ‘deep structural challenges’ curbing Japan’s outbound travel enthusiasm, market watchers say
Analysts and tourism officials say the slowdown points to deeper structural shifts in Japan’s outbound travel patterns, though some US states are reporting modest gains and looking to high-profile events and celebrity appeal to reignite interest.
At the Tourism Expo Japan 2025 in Nagoya, which concluded on Sunday with nearly 127,000 visitors, only three US states – California, Washington and Hawaii – hosted stand-alone booths. That marked a significant pullback from previous years, when Alaska, Oregon, Florida and major cities such as New York and Chicago were also prominently represented.
“The outbound tourism market to the US is very tough, although there are some small increases to the mainland,” said Masakazu Yamaguchi, head of Japan sales for Delta Air Lines and a member of the Visit US Japan promotion organisation.
About 700,000 Japanese visited the former hotspot of Hawaii last year, Yamaguchi said, down some 50 per cent from 2019, while arrivals to the mainland US are at about 60 per cent of the figure six years ago.