Australia has retained its position as the sixth major Japan inbound market for the third consecutive year.

Australian arrivals to Japan increased in February/March 2010 up 20.5% and 13.3% respectively from 2009 figures.

Total Australian arrivals for the month of February 2010 numbered 20,600 compared with 17,101 in February 2009, and for the month of March 2010 were 20,500 compared with 18,096 in March 2009.

According to a report released by the Japan National Tourism Organization (JNTO), cumulative Australian visitor arrivals to Japan for the first three months of 2010 totalled 68,000 - up 9.5 percent from last year.
  
The JNTO report cited a number of factors, which contributed to the increase in Australians traveling to Japan.

The appreciation of the Australian dollar against the yen - up from 65 yen in March 2009 to 82 yen in March 2010 - helped restore consumer confidence as did the Visit Japan Year 2010 Campaign marketing effort which ran late November 2009 to March 2010.