Geographic Concentration of Foreign Visitors to Japan 1

This paper provides the first evidence of geographic concentration of foreign visitors in Japan, using a new data on nights spent by foreign visitors in each region. Using locational Gini coefficients, I show that foreign visitors are more geographically concentrated than Japanese visitors and the l...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inIDEAS Working Paper Series from RePEc
Main Author Tanaka, Ayumu
Format Paper
LanguageEnglish
Published St. Louis Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis 01.01.2013
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Summary:This paper provides the first evidence of geographic concentration of foreign visitors in Japan, using a new data on nights spent by foreign visitors in each region. Using locational Gini coefficients, I show that foreign visitors are more geographically concentrated than Japanese visitors and the level of geographical concentration vary across source countries. In addition, I employ gravity equations to examine the determinants of nights spent by foreign visitors in each prefecture. The results suggest that visa policy, transport infrastructure, and natural and cultural factors, as well as traditional gravity variables such as distance and economic size, play a role in international travel to Japanese prefectures.