It now seems that Australia just cannot get enough of Japan. Australian arrivals for the month of February 2010 numbered 20,600. This is being compared with the 17,101 that was seen in February 2009. Thus, Australian arrivals to Japan increased in February and March 2010 by 20.5 percent and 13.3 percent respectively from figures seen in 2009.

According to a report released by the Japan National Tourism Organization, cumulative Australian visitor arrivals to Japan for the first three months of this year totaled 68,000. This is a stat that is up 9.5 percent on last year’s numbers. The Japan National Tourism Organization also cited a number of factors that contributed to the increase in Australians traveling to Japan. The appreciation of the Australian dollar against the yen is up 65 yen in March 2009 to 82 yen in March 20101. This helped restore consumer confidence as did the Visit Japan Year 2010 Campaign. This market campaign ran late November of 2009 to March of 2010.

The Japan Tourism Agency hopes to attract 10 million visitors to Japan this year. The agency wants 15 million per year coning to the country by 2013 and 20 million per year by 2016. However, the agency does not want to stop there. They want 25 million per year by 2019, and then at least 30 million per year in the years beyond.

Right now countries across the world are doing what they can to bring in more people. Thus, Japan showing an increase in the number of people that are coming to their country from Australia is a good thing. Hopefully, the country can continue to see improvement in all markets, not just this one.