JLL Predicts Key Role Of Chinese Tourists In Japanese Gaming Market

Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL), the global real estate services firm has indicated in its recent report that the Japanese gaming market is likely to depend significantly on Chinese tourists.

The report focused on the potential of Japan’s newly-opened gaming industry.

In a statement JLL said,

Growth of inbound tourism has been targeted by the [Japanese] government as one of a number of measures to ensure stable economic growth. Total visits in 2016 reached 24.04 million, well on its way to reaching the revised target of 30 million by 2020. While almost all countries and regions of the world have shown strong inbound growth to Japan over the past five years, by far the largest nominal increase in visitor arrivals has been from China.

According to latest government data, China has become the top source of tourists to Japan beating countries like Taiwan and South Korea. In 2016 there were nearly 6.37 million tourist arrivals from China which was a 511 percent jump over 2011.

Jones Lang LaSalle noted that tourism, retail and entertainment operators are expected to benefit from the higher visitations as Chinese tourists typically spend more. Data from the Japan Tourism Agency shows that Chinese visitors spend more than other visitors in several key categories such as accommodation, shopping, food and beverage, transportation and amusement facilities.

Visitors to Japan from source countries with similar high spends such as Australia, United States, Singapore or the United Kingdom were much lower JLL said, implying a greater reliance on China. JLL has highlighted in its report that visitors from China were as likely to visit a regional location in Japan as well as an urban center like Tokyo. The locations most likely to receive an urban gaming license are Osaka, Tokyo and Yokohama according to market analysts.

JLL also reviewed the current state of the gambling sector in the country. The report noted that despite the limited scope of legal gambling in the country, Japan remained one of the most active gaming markets of the world.

Quoting data from gaming consultancy H2 Gambling Capital, JLL said that the total net losses recorded in the country for 2014 was $29.8 billion, which was the third highest in the world after China and the United States. It also pointed out that Osaka province had much higher number of pachinko machines per capita than Tokyo. Japanese lawmakers are said to prefer Singapore-style regulations where locals are allowed entry after paying a fee.