Japan’s tourism surplus continued to narrow at the start of 2026, as outbound spending by Japanese travelers surged while inbound arrivals weakened.
According to balance-of-payments data released by Japan’s Ministry of Finance on March 9, the tourism surplus totaled JPY 590.1 billion（about USD 3.7 billion) in January, down 10.4% year-on-year, marking the eighth consecutive month of decline.
At the same time that overseas travel by Japanese residents increased, the depreciation of the yen pushed up the cost of overseas trips when calculated in yen, further shrinking the surplus.
Tourism balance is calculated by subtracting the amount spent by Japanese travelers abroad from the amount spent in Japan by inbound foreign visitors. In recent years, spending by inbound tourists has exceeded Japanese spending overseas, keeping Japan’s tourism balance in surplus.
The China effect
Affected by the Chinese government’s travel advisory urging caution when visiting Japan, the number of Chinese tourists declined, and total inbound arrivals to Japan in January fell 4.9 percent year-on-year, the first drop in four years.
Even so, spending by inbound visitors still edged up slightly to JPY 819.4 billion (bout USD 5.17 billion) in January.
The main reason for the narrower surplus was the sharp rise in overseas spending by Japanese travelers: the number of Japanese outbound travelers increased 17.6 percent year-on-year in January, while their overseas travel spending surged 51.7 percent to JPY 229.3 billion (about USD 1.45 billion).
