Abstract:

Japan plays an important role in China’s inbound tourism market, and it means that the study on Japanese visiting-China market is quite necessary. On the basis of reviewing the spatial-temporal evolution of international tourist market, with the 1979-2015 statistics of inbound tourism published by Japan Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, China Tourism Yearbook and China Tourism Statistical Yearbook, this paper analyzes the temporal and spatial structure evolution of Japan visiting-China market by adopting research methods such as business fluctuation theory, seasonal intensity indexes, coefficient of variation and primacy ratio. The research results are as follows: 1) Under the influence of the factors such as Japanese economy, Japanese outbound tourism market and public events between China and Japan, Japan visiting-China market has developed rapidly since 1997. The average annual growth rate reaches 9.17%. The temporal structure evolution of Japan visiting-China market can be divided into ten cycles. The economic cycle fluctuation is in accordance with characters of Kitchin cycle. However, there are still some limitations to the stability and sustainability of its annual market growth rate. Twists and turns are obvious; 2) During the period from 1994 to 2015, there was a certain law to the dull and boom periods of Japan visiting-China market. March, May, and the months from July to November were boom period. April, June and December were shoulder seasons. And January and February were dull period. But the differences between dull and boom periods were lessened. It could also be found that the fluctuation of market curve changed from trimodal to bimodal in dull and boom seasons of Japan visiting-China market. However, as the market demand is relatively uniform, the seasonal difference is not so obvious in recent years; 3) Being affected by traffic, trade, cultural communication, product placement and so on, the tourists from Japan center around eastern coastal areas of China for many years, including the Yangtze and the Pearl River Deltas and the region around Bohai. It reflects that the tourism destination preference of Japan visiting-China market is relatively unchanged; 4) The two city index of Shanghai is of moderate primacy distribution, far more surpasses that of the second city. Shanghai is the most popular destination in Japan visiting-China market. Besides, cities in the four-city system such as Bejing, Shenzhen and Dalian, and cities in the eleven-city system such as Guangzhou, Suzhou, Hangzhou, Tianjin, Xi’an, Qingdao, Wuxi and Guilin are also popular among Japanese tourists under the influence of the factors such as bilateral trade, tourism products and policies.

Key words: visiting-China market, spatial-temporal structure, inbound tourism, Japan