New market research promises more foreign visitors to Osaka

By Atsushi Ebihara ( Xinhua ) 11:16, August 15, 2013

The latest survey conducted by the public tourism promotion body of Osaka showed the majority of foreign tourists have a very positive impression of the western Japanese commercial center while the office's head stressed that Osaka should give greater consideration to inbound tourism as a jumpstart for boosting the local economy as well as interpersonal exchanges through scientific "research."



The Osaka Government Tourism Bureau, jointly reorganized in April by Osaka Prefecture, Osaka City and local business groups, carried out the market research in accordance with the mayor's " integration plan," asking more than 4,600 foreign visitors in the departures lobby of Kansai International Airport between April and July to answer questions about their visit and stay in the Osaka area.



The office collected 4,656 questionnaires from visitors. According to the final tallies released earlier this week, the largest group of respondents, at 46.0 percent, were people from China including Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan. They were followed by groups from South Korea, the United States, countries in Southeast Asia and European countries, each accounting for around 10 percent.



The results also showed that 72.2 percent of flyers arriving and departing at the airport were traveling for leisure, followed by 14.2 percent for business.



The average stay in Osaka was 4.6 days but 55.6 percent of respondents said they stayed more than five days, also visiting neighboring prefectures in Kansai, including Kyoto and Nara, as well as Tokyo, the Japanese capital, during their travels.



The average amount of money each visitor spent in Osaka ( excluding airfare) was 69,112 yen (about 702 U.S. dollars) while 33.8 percent of visitors spent less than 30,000 yen (about 305 U.S. dollars). In addition, 20.7 percent spent 100,000 yen (about 1,017 U.S. dollars) or more, the survey revealed.



Meanwhile, 62.8 percent responded that they had come to Osaka for the first time and 37.2 percent said they had visited before. Among such "repeaters," 9.7 percent said they had previously come to Osaka six times or more. The repeater figures are backed up by visitors' satisfaction with Osaka, with more than 80 percent of respondents having a positive impression, including 31.6 percent who said Osaka is " excellent."





（Editor：DuMingming、Ye Xin）