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World’s ‘most favorite destination’ sees record 39 million foreign visitors in 11 months

Samira Vishwas | December 19, 2025 9:24 PM CST

Shoppers crowd at the Ameyoko shopping district, which is Tokyo’s biggest street food market, as they do their last-minute New Year’s shopping in Tokyo, Japan, Dec. 29, 2022. Photo by Reuters

Japan, named the “world’s most favorite destination” this year by readers of Condé Nast Traveler, welcomed an estimated 39.06 million foreign visitors from January to November, surpassing last year’s record of 36.87 million.

In November alone, Japan received 3.52 million foreign visitors, up 10.4% year-on-year despite travel warnings from China.

Growth in visitors from mainland China slowed to 3% in November, far below the 37.5% growth across the whole of 2025 to the end of November, compared with the same period in 2024.

A diplomatic dispute following Japanese ‌Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s remarks on Taiwan prompted Beijing in mid-November to urge its citizens not to travel to Japan.

Chinese airlines have offered free refunds for flights up to at least the end of 2025. Three major airlines Air China, China Eastern and China Southern will offer refunds and charge-free changes to Japan- flights until March 28, 2026.

Li Hanming, an aviation analyst, said around 500,000 tickets from China to Japan had been canceled since Nov. 15.

Mainland Chinese tourists have nevertheless made up the largest cohort of ‌visitors to Japan so far in 2025, accounting for nearly a quarter of the total.