Foreign tourist spending in Japan hits record in 2017

Spending by foreign tourists to Japan increased 17.8 percent in 2017 from a year earlier to a record 4.42 trillion yen ($39.9 billion), as the number of travelers rose to an all-time high, the Japan Tourism Agency said Tuesday.The surge in spending was boosted by robust increases in the number of visitors from Asia and their purchases, the agency said.In 2017, the number of foreign tourists surged 19.3 percent from the previous year to a record 28,690,000.Average spending per visitor fell 1.3 percent to 153,921 yen in 2017 following an 11.5 percent decrease the previous year, dragged down b…READ FULL ARTICLE