Japan Takes the Crown

Japan is now the destination luxury advisors are asked for most. Virtuoso‘s 2027 Luxe Report, released 30 September, ranks it No. 1 worldwide for the first time, ahead of Italy. The ranking is based on a survey of more than 3,100 advisors at Virtuoso-affiliated agencies. Tokyo and Kyoto take the top two city spots, and Paris drops to fourth. Virtuoso says the result shows “luxury tourism’s center of gravity is shifting east.”

For advisors, this changes the default pitch. Japan is no longer a bucket-list add-on to a European year. It is the main request. The planning problem has also moved from persuading clients to securing inventory and pricing in a run of new government charges.

What the survey says

Japan does well across traveller types, not only in the overall ranking. Virtuoso’s advisors place it second for family travel, third for solo trips and sixth for honeymoons. The rest of the top five global destinations are Italy, France, Greece and Spain. Among cities, Barcelona is third and Rome fifth.

The report also suggests the region as a whole is getting stronger. China is new on the list and goes straight to No. 1 among destinations on the rise. Vietnam and South Korea also make that top 10. In the report’s “Air Supply” trend, Virtuoso credits China’s broader visa-free policies with making arrival easier. It credits new nonstop flights with helping South Korea’s cultural pull turn into bookings.

Advisors also expect the market to keep growing. According to Virtuoso, they are entering 2027 with their most confident outlook in three years:

• 53% expect leisure travel demand to rise slightly, and 22% expect a significant increase.
• 59% expect spend per trip to rise at least modestly, and 13% expect a significant jump.
• Fewer than a quarter (23%) expect spending to stay flat.

The report’s “Fancy-flation” trend explains how clients are thinking about that spending. Advisors say clients increasingly start with a budget and ask where it will go furthest. “Nobody is trading down,” the report says. Instead, clients are switching destinations while keeping the suite, the private guide and the hard-to-get table. Japan fits that pattern well, because clients expect full-service luxury there without European prices.

Fewer arrivals, more luxury demand

The luxury ranking comes as Japan’s overall arrival numbers are moving the other way.

In 2025 Japan received a record 42.7 million international visitors, according to Japan National Tourism Organization (JNTO) figures reported by Nippon.com. That was up 15.8% on 2024 and 34% above 2019. Visitor spending reached a record ¥9.5 trillion. The government’s target is 60 million visitors and ¥15 trillion in spending by 2030.

In 2026 the total has fallen. Japan recorded 27.6 million arrivals from January to August, down 2.7% year on year. August alone was down 9.6% at about 3.1 million, according to JNTO data reported by Travel Voice. Most of the drop came from China. Mainland Chinese arrivals fell 59% in August, which Travel Voice attributes to the Chinese government’s travel warning against Japan. Even so, 14 source markets set August records, including South Korea, Malaysia and Mexico, and Italy and Spain each had their highest single month on record.

North American demand is still rising. JNTO’s figures for January to May 2026 show US arrivals up 8.2% to 1.47 million. Canadian arrivals rose 8.5% to 318,900.

The data supports two conclusions. First, Virtuoso’s ranking reflects what high-end clients are asking for, not the overall number of visitors, and those two trends no longer move together. Second, the luxury client advisors are booking now is arriving while total arrivals are slightly down, not at a time when the whole market is setting records. Advisors should not assume that easier availability will last into 2027.

Charges are rising

Japan is still relatively good value at the top end, but the gap is shrinking. Two new charges this year affect the clients advisors are selling to.

Kyoto’s accommodation tax. Since 1 March 2026, Kyoto has charged a much higher tax on expensive rooms, according to the city’s official tourism site. The charge is per person, per night, and depends on the room rate:

The new top rate is ten times the old maximum. For a couple staying four nights in a suite priced at ¥100,000 or more per person, the tax alone is now ¥80,000.

Japan’s departure tax. The international departure tax went from ¥1,000 to ¥3,000 on 1 July 2026, as reported by Seoul Economic Daily. It applies to travellers leaving by air or cruise ship; children under two are exempt. The government says the extra revenue will go towards congestion and public-order problems caused by the surge in tourism. Separately, dual pricing is spreading: some sites, such as Himeji Castle, now charge residents and visitors different admission rates.

Neither charge will put off a Virtuoso client. Both, though, should be listed on the quote. Clients who choose Japan for its exchange-rate value will notice a ¥10,000-a-night line item they were not told about.

Where the opportunity is

Tokyo and Kyoto top the city rankings because that is where demand is concentrated. The advisors who make Japan their specialty will likely be the ones who can sell beyond those two cities. The survey points the same way. Japan ranks second for families and third for solo travellers. Both groups respond well to itineraries that match a client’s own interests, such as food, craft, onsen towns or walking routes, rather than the usual two-city loop.

The report’s top trend fits this too. Multigenerational family travel is the No. 1 trend for 2027. Nearly half of advisors (47%) say demand for ultraluxe privacy and personalization is growing. For Japan, that means booking a whole ryokan, a private dinner hosted by an artisan, or a guide who stays with a family of three generations from Tokyo to the countryside. These arrangements need months of lead time. They are also harder for clients to arrange themselves than a hotel in Ginza.

For advisors

• Pitch to: families with three generations and solo travellers. These are the groups where Japan’s rankings are strongest after the overall No. 1. Clients who left Italy off this year’s list because of cost are also good prospects.
• Book now: spring 2027 (cherry blossom season) and autumn-foliage dates in Kyoto, especially whole-property ryokan and private-guide arrangements, before 2027 demand pushes rates up.
• Quote all-in: list Kyoto’s accommodation tax (up to ¥10,000 per person, per night) and the ¥3,000 departure tax on the proposal so neither appears as a surprise at checkout.
• Watch: JNTO’s monthly arrival figures, which show whether a recovery in Chinese travel tightens supply again, and how fast China itself converts its “on the rise” ranking into bookings.

Sources

• Virtuoso, 2027 Luxe Report press release, 30 Sept 2026
• https://www.nippon.com/en/japan-data/h02673/
• https://www.jnto.go.jp/en/news/20260617.pdf
• https://www.travelvoice.jp/english/international-arrivals-in-japan-in-august-2026-were-down-9-6-to-3-1-million-despite-record-high-in-14-source-markets
• https://kyoto.travel/en/news/tax-change/
• https://en.sedaily.com/culture/2026/05/16/japan-to-triple-departure-tax-to-3000-yen-from-july