Hotel rates in Japan keep climbing despite fewer foreign visitors

Hotel room rates in Japan surged in September even as the number of foreign tourists visiting the country declined.

According to the Nikkei newspaper, the average room rate at Japanese hotels in September stood at 20,657 yen ($131), up 8.8 percent from the same period last year, based on data compiled by hotel analytics firm STR.

The increase is attributed to strong autumn demand from foreign tourists. Nikkei noted that overseas visitors flock to Japan in the fall for foliage tourism, while international conferences and trade exhibitions also drive business travel, together supporting higher prices.

Heavy rain that hit the Kanto region from late August posed a headwind, yet hotel rates rose anyway. September also included Japan's domestic holiday stretch known as "Silver Week," though analysts said the effect of domestic travelers on pricing was likely limited.

In Tokyo, a top destination for Korean tourists, the average September room rate reached 28,276 yen, up 8.4 percent from a year earlier. In Osaka, the rate fell 19.7 percent to 18,762 yen — a reversal seen as a correction after rates spiked during last year's Osaka-Kansai World Exposition.

An STR official said inbound tourism demand was sustaining the rise in room rates and forecast that rates would continue to post single-digit year-on-year gains through next spring.

Meanwhile, the overall number of foreign tourists visiting Japan actually shrank. According to the Japan National Tourism Organization, the total number of foreign visitors from January through September this year fell 2.9 percent from the same period last year to about 30.73 million.

A sharp drop in Chinese tourists was a major factor. Sino-Japanese relations cooled after Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi made remarks in November last year about intervening in a Taiwan contingency, and the number of Chinese visitors over the same period fell 55.5 percent year on year.

Amid this, 842,300 Koreans visited Japan in September, up 25.6 percent from a year earlier — the highest figure ever recorded for that month.