Winter brings a record number of international tourists

In the spring, they come to cherry flowers. In autumn, for foliage tours.

Now, a greater number of travelers reserve winter trips to Japan, as the country’s reputation Ski destination on a global level He continues to seduce visitors from Asia and the Pacific Outside.

Foreign visitors to Japan increased by 33 % in the past winter of prenatal levels. About 10.5 million visitors from December 2024 to February 2025 reached an increase of 7.9 million during the same period in 2018, according to the Japanese National Tourism Organization.

Many flow to the powder slopes in Nissiko and Hakoba, which, along with other skiing areas such as Yamagata and Yuzawa, received a record number of international tourists last winter, according to the data published by Visa on Thursday.

Political skiing destinations exceeded prenatal levels in the winter of 2023, according to visas. She said this did not stop there – IDPs rose 50 % in the last ski season.

About 30 % of visitors were from Australia, 20 % of the United States, and 15 % of Southeast Asia, according to a visa.

International visitors also lead spending, with average daily expenses more than three times from local skiers, according to VISA data.

Decrease in local demand

However, many ski cities are struggling in Japan. Those who do not have international crowds wrestle with the low domestic demand, which decreased by 75 % since the peak of skiing in the country in the early 1990s.

The number of skiers and skiers in Japan decreased from 18.6 million in 1993 to 4.6 million in 2023, with birth rates in Japan decreased, and younger generations found other ways to spend their spare time, according to what he said. Local media Reports indicate data from the Japan Productivity Center.

The number of ski resorts in Japan also decreased – from 1669 in 1985 to 449 in 2021 – according to the largest English newspaper in the country, Japanese Times. This includes Nigata Governorate onceIt is long considered one of the first ski sites in Japan.

Canadian Harvey Glick has been on ice ski trips in Japan for nearly two decades. He said that abandoned ski resorts – and those “only hanging” – can be seen in the rural areas of Honcho and Hokido.

“For the past twenty years, I have seen an incredible change,” he said. Focusing is now on efforts “about foreign or international travelers of ice skiing, because they spend more than the local, and they are really trying to create this luxury brand in Japan – such as Switzerland.”

Ski in Niseko Tokyu Grand Hirafu Ski in Kutchaan, Hokkaido Governorate, Japan, on January 20, 2023. Niseko is seen as a success story for an industry that deals with decades of decades of local skiers.

Norico Hayshi Bloomberg Gety pictures

He said he is not anywhere more clear than he was in Niseko and Hakuba, which includes luxury resorts equipped with English -language workers and speakers that raise glowing reviews.

Aman Narin, a resident of Singapore, said that a recommendation from friends led him to reserve a trip to Tomo Club in Hokkaido on the first ski trip to his family to Japan.

Narin said: “Japan and the club MED make a perfect dualism to learn how to ski with soft and tolerant snow and amazing preparation, especially for children,” Narin said.

He said that the resort rate included lifting passes and ski lessons, in addition to renting equipment “, which was large.”

He visited Narin in January during the lunar day, and was estimated that upon departure, 80 % of the other hotel guests were from China.

Japan is now a better skiing destination for Chinese travelers on the mainland, “clearance of the United States that topped the list last year,” it said. Visa search.

Old South Africa, Whoever went for the first time to Nissiko 22 years ago, she said that she and her family were ordinary visitors over the past decade.

She said, “There has been an explosion, since Kofid, in Hong Kong agents,” she said.

She said that prices rose, as well as hotel caliber and restaurants. “The restaurant scene has become somewhat lying. These days, you need to book your places of residence and restaurants in advance one year ago.”

But one thing has not changed, “she said,” Snow is still great. “

Mixed feelings

Visa data showed that nearly half of all external visitors to Japan in the last winter went to Niseko, according to Prateeek Sanghi, the president of the company for consulting and analyzes in the Asia and Pacific region. He said that the famous ski resort area in Hokkaido represented more than half of the spending abroad during the peak winter ski season.

Sanghi said Hakuba from Naganeo – who is sometimes referred to as “Niseko II” – also acquires land.

He said: “Hakuba is the fastest growth of cards abroad on an annual basis and represents about 35 % of external visits.”

This is partly why GKKK now says it is now avoiding Niseko and Hakuba completely.

“I don’t like the new character and culture that has evolved there,” he said. “I find it very annoying, because I think they are with a lot of average … or even high -income people because the prices pass through the ceiling.”

Responses to the Reddit function complaining about the crowds in Niseko, as it appears on March 31, 2025.

Several online lamentation expressed the popularity of the resort’s cities as well. The Reddit poster in January complained of Niseko, writing: “The giant Hirafu Gondolas (expected) with no kind of waiting list lines or gates in place?

In response, another commentator wrote: “There are nearly 500 other ski resorts in Japan. Many of them are practically empty.”

This is where Glick said he is now going to skiing on the ice.

“I am looking for some smaller mountains that have more Japanese feeling,” he said. “You don’t see any other foreigners.”

Investment flow

Increasing international ski interest in Japan leads to the flow of investment, as foreigners collected homes and poured money in the resort’s developments.

In 2023, the Patience Capital Group, which is based in Singapore, announced its headquarters for Resort $ 1.42 billion in Myoko Kogen, a famous ski destination in Niigata. the The company is in talks To reopen its fund for new investors, Reuters reported in late March.

But not everyone praises the idea of ”the third” Nisico in Japan.

Local population is concerned that jobs and tourism dollars that the resort will generate may not be sufficient to compensate Nails in real estate and food pricesAnd the deterioration of the long Japanese cultural norms, according to Reuters. A The video is now Virula It was published in February, a Japanese man faces an Australian tourist about smoking at the bottom of the ski slope.