抄録
Prior research on tourism in Japan highlighted the growth in domestic tourists visiting the different
tourist regions in Japan. However, as the 2020 Tokyo Olympics is looming on the horizon,
Japanese tourism officials will have to focus on understanding the trends in the annual growth
rates of experiential and international tourism in Japan. Filling the gap in knowledge, this study
compares the annual growth rates of accommodated guests in urban and rural tourist regions of
Japan between 2012 and 2017. We also analyze the annual growth rates in international tourists
visiting Japan from the top ten countries between 2016 and 2018. Non-parametric hypothesis
tests are used to test the equality of the annual growth rates in different categories. Our results
indicate that the null hypothesis of equality in annual growth rates of accommodated guests at
rural and urban tourist areas in Japan cannot be rejected. Another finding of this study is that the
annual growth rate of accommodated guests in rural tourist areas of Japan peaked in 2015 at 0.54.
The annual growth rate in accommodated tourists in urban tourist areas peaked in 2012 at 0.46.
Results indicate that the null hypothesis of equality in annual growth rates of international tourists
from the top ten countries between 2016 and 2018 can be rejected. The results of our research
should be of interest to government and tourism officials in Japan involved in the planning of an
expansion of experiential and international tourism in Japan during the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
