The line graph illustrates the number of overseas visitors who travelled to Japan for three different purposes between 1990 and 2010, namely business, holidays and visiting friends.
Overall, the number of visitors increased in all three categories over the period. Business travel remained the most common purpose for most of the years, although it experienced some fluctuations. Holiday travel also rose considerably, while the number of people visiting friends increased more steadily before falling slightly at the end.
In 1990, around 6.5 million people visited Japan for business purposes, compared with approximately 5 million holidaymakers and just under 4 million people who came to visit friends. Business travel then increased gradually and reached a peak of almost 10 million visitors in 2000. However, this figure fell to about 7.5 million in 2005 before recovering to roughly 9 million by 2010.
Holiday travel initially declined from about 5 million to around 4 million, but then rose steadily. It reached approximately 7 million in 2000 and peaked at about 8 million shortly before 2010, before falling back to around 7 million. Meanwhile, the number of visitors seeing friends climbed from under 4 million in 1990 to around 7 million in 2005, after which it decreased slightly to just over 6 million in 2010.