Abstract
Developing the tourism market by increasing inbound tourists is an important policy issue in Japan. In this paper, we use geographic information systems (GIS) and spatial statistics to study the spatial patterns of inbound accommodation guests visiting Hokkaido, known as one of the most popular tourist destinations in Japan. The Local Moran cluster maps reveal several unique spatial patterns for inbound accommodation guests from specific countries or during specific periods. There are also some specific patterns of spatial heterogeneity observed by comparing the results of the latest quarterly data with monthly data.