Source: Statista

Japan’s government has announced the ambitious goal to welcome 40 million visitors to the country in 2020. A growth of this size would be a jump up from the projected 33.5 million who came to the country in 2019, but observers think the country does have a shot at making the number.

On Friday, the opening ceremony of the Tokyo Olympic Games will be exactly six months away and interest in the games is credited with bringing crowds of visitors to the capital and beyond. Even before, tourism numbers have been increasing fast in Japan (after hitting a low due to the catastrophic earthquake and tsunami of 2011). More visitors are also injecting more cash into the economy. The Olympic Games are expected to bring a boost of $300 billion due to the increase in international and domestic tourists.