Japan saw a record 17.78 million foreign visitors in the first half of 2024, with a weak yen also boosting spending to a new quarterly high of around 2.1 trillion yen ($13 billion) in April-June, a government source said Thursday.

Visitor numbers for the first six months of the year topped the previous high of 16.63 million set in 2019 before the COVID-19 pandemic. The number of foreign visitors in June totaled 3.14 million, a record for a single month and exceeding 3 million for the fourth consecutive month, the source said.

If the current pace continues, the annual number of visitors for 2024 is also expected to surpass the 2019 record of 31.88 million.

By country and region, the largest number of visitors in June came from South Korea at around 700,000, followed by those from China at around 660,000, Taiwan at around 570,000, the United States at roughly 300,000, and Hong Kong at about 250,000.

The surge in visitors has created various challenges for Japan, including how to attract tourists to lesser known regions, and mitigating issues brought by overtourism, such as traffic congestion and unfamiliarity with Japanese etiquette.

Official visitor data from the Japan National Tourism Organization is expected to be released Friday.

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