According to estimates by the Japan National Tourism Organization (JNTO), 640,577 people visited Japan from Indonesia in 2025, up 23.7% from 517,651 the previous year and a new record. The monthly peak came in December (81,678 visitors), which coincides with the year-end school holidays. Final figures from the Japan Tourism Agency’s Overnight Travel Statistics Survey show that in that same December, Indonesian guest nights in Hokkaido rose 42.8% year on year, placing Hokkaido second only to Tokyo. This article layers four views in turn — where the monthly peaks fall, which prefectures Indonesian travelers stay in, how guest reviews mentioning halal options are distributed, and December estimated settled ADR in the leading prefectures — to map out the opportunities for welcoming guests in the holiday season that starts in late December.

640,577 Visitors in 2025, 1.55 Times the 2019 Level

Let us start with the annual trend. Visitors from Indonesia numbered 412,779 in 2019, surpassed that level in 2023 at 429,382, then reached 517,651 in 2024 (+20.6%) and 640,577 in 2025 (+23.7%) — two consecutive years of growth above 20%. The 2025 level is about 1.55 times that of 2019.

Growth has continued into 2026, with the January–September total at 495,200, up 10.3% year on year. Although the growth rate has eased from 2025, the full year will exceed the previous year even if October–December only matches last year. Note, however, that the latest months are estimates and will be revised when final figures are released.

Source: Compiled by HotelBank Editorial Team from JNTO “Visitor Arrivals.” 2026 includes provisional and estimated figures.

Monthly Peaks in December and the Post-Ramadan Holiday (Lebaran) — March Was the Busiest Month of 2026

By month, there are two peaks. The first is December: 74,994 visitors in 2024 and 81,678 in 2025, the busiest month in each year. Indonesian school end-of-term holidays are set by province and region, but local education calendars generally place them from late December to early January, overlapping with the year-end family travel season. The high level in January following December (73,999 in January 2026, +17.0% year on year) can also be read as this holiday spanning the turn of the year.

Source: Compiled by HotelBank Editorial Team from JNTO “Visitor Arrivals.” 2026 includes provisional and estimated figures.

The second peak is the holiday around the festival marking the end of the Islamic fasting month (Eid al-Fitr, known locally as Lebaran). Because the Islamic calendar is lunar, this holiday moves about 11 days earlier each year in the Gregorian calendar. The Indonesian government’s public holidays and collective leave fell in early-to-mid April in 2024, late March to early April in 2025, and late March (March 20–24) in 2026. Indeed, April 2024 (62,515) was the year’s second peak; in 2025 the peak split between March (60,599) and April (61,380); and in March 2026 arrivals reached 82,792 (+36.6% year on year), the highest month in the monthly statistics since 2003. As the holiday moves earlier, the spring peak is shifting to the preceding month as well.

Comparing each month of 2026 with the same month a year earlier, January through August all exceeded the prior year, while September (estimate, 44,000) was essentially flat at −0.2%. The small gains in April (+1.3%) and June (+2.5%) likely include the effect of months swapping places as Lebaran moved into March.

Source: Compiled by HotelBank Editorial Team from JNTO “Visitor Arrivals.” 2026 includes provisional and estimated figures.

Where They Stay — Tokyo Takes 46.2% of 2.01 Million Guest Nights; Regional Areas 22.1%

Next, we check where Indonesian travelers stay, using the Japan Tourism Agency’s final figures. In 2025, Indonesian guest nights (facilities with 10 or more employees) totaled 2,011,230, up 8.7% from 1,850,190 the previous year. By prefecture, Tokyo accounted for nearly half at 929,500 guest nights (46.2%), followed by Osaka (306,750), Kyoto (158,800) and Hokkaido (150,370).

Excluding the three major metropolitan areas (the eight prefectures of Tokyo, Kanagawa, Chiba, Saitama, Aichi, Kyoto, Osaka and Hyogo), regional areas totaled 443,860 guest nights, a 22.1% share. The share itself is not large, but regional areas grew 17.1% year on year, outpacing the major metropolitan areas (+6.5%), and the share rose 1.6 points from 20.5% in 2024. By prefecture, growth stood out in Hokkaido (+30.7%), Aichi (+29.8%) and Yamanashi (+21.0%), suggesting a spread toward the Mt. Fuji area and snow destinations. For an analysis of lodging capacity from the side of regional airports with new routes, see also LCC Networks Read Japan’s New Inbound Trio: Malaysia/Vietnam/Indonesia.

Source: Compiled by HotelBank Editorial Team from Reference Table 1 of the Japan Tourism Agency’s Overnight Travel Statistics Survey, 2025 and 2024 (final annual figures). Facilities with 10 or more employees.

In December the Regional Share Rises to 30.9% and Hokkaido Moves Up to Second

Narrowing the view to December changes the picture of where guests stay. Guest nights in December 2025 totaled 318,900 (+5.1% year on year), of which Hokkaido took 50,740 — overtaking Osaka (39,670) to rank second behind Tokyo (136,690). Hokkaido’s December share was 15.9%, more than double its 7.5% annual share. Nagano (8,570 guest nights, +25.8%) and Niigata (1,790, +44.4%) also grew in December, suggesting that snow-oriented stays concentrate in that month.

Source: Compiled by HotelBank Editorial Team from Reference Table 1 of the Japan Tourism Agency’s Overnight Travel Statistics Survey, 2024 and 2025 (final annual figures). December guest nights. Vertical axis is logarithmic.

As a result, the regional share in December reached 30.9%, nearly 9 points higher than for the full year (22.1%) and 5.8 points above the previous December (25.1%). Even in a market that concentrates in cities over the year, the share of travelers venturing into regional areas rises during the year-end holiday period — a useful clue for regional properties narrowing down when to focus on welcoming these guests.

What Reviews Reveal — Station Access, Cleanliness and Room Size

To see what Indonesian guests look for in a property, we ran a tag analysis of guest reviews written in Indonesian (most recent 24 months, based on language detection). In the four prefectures with a sufficient number of reviews, “near the station,” “cleanliness” and “central location” rank near the top in every case. In Kyoto and Hokkaido, more than one in four reviews mention “room size,” which likely reflects a travel style of families or groups sharing one room.

Source: HotelBank Editorial Team research (NLP tag analysis of guest reviews, most recent 24 months, Indonesian-language reviews). Figures are the share of reviews mentioning each tag, not rating scores.

By contrast, “halal options” did not appear among these top 30 tags. One reading is that meal requirements are checked before booking when choosing a property, while post-stay reviews focus on location and rooms. In other words, halal options are less a factor that earns praise in reviews than a precondition for making the shortlist — what matters is whether they are communicated in advance on property pages and in plan descriptions.

264 Properties in 34 Prefectures Have Positive Reviews Mentioning Halal Options

So where are the properties whose halal options are praised in reviews? Counting properties with at least one guest review (any language, most recent 24 months) that speaks positively about halal or Muslim-friendly meals (including mentions of nearby dining options), we found 264 properties across 34 prefectures nationwide (properties with 20 or more reviews in total).

Source: HotelBank Editorial Team research (NLP tag analysis of guest reviews, most recent 24 months, properties with 20 or more reviews in total, N=264 properties)

In Chart 3, dark blue indicates regional areas and light blue the eight prefectures of the three major metropolitan areas.

By number of properties, Tokyo (76), Osaka (35) and Kyoto (21) lead, but regional areas outside the eight metropolitan prefectures also have 95 properties (36.0%). That exceeds the regional share of Indonesian guest nights (22.1%), showing that a fair number of regional properties have their halal options conveyed through reviews. Yamanashi (12 properties), Nagano (11) and Hokkaido (11) also overlap with the prefectures where stays grow in December.

Looking at individual properties, guests have written about halal-certified breakfasts and halal wagyu dinners at Yamaichi Bekkan (山一別館) in Hiroshima (13 positive reviews mentioning halal meals), Hotel Keihan Tenmabashi (ホテル京阪 天満橋) in Osaka (11), and Ichirino Kogen Hotel Roan (一里野高原ホテル ろあん) in Ishikawa (4), among others. Examples range from city hotels to regional ryokan and resorts, indicating that efforts are under way regardless of property type.

* Because classification is by NLP, mentions of nearby halal restaurants are included. Mentions are based on review content and do not indicate whether a property holds halal certification or what it provides.

December Estimated Settled ADR in Leading Prefectures — Kyoto, Tokyo and Nagano Top the List; Yamanashi +32.7% YoY

When considering the economics of welcoming these guests, it is worth knowing December room rate levels too. Looking at December 2025 estimated settled ADR (median across all property types) for ten prefectures centered on those with many Indonesian guest nights, Kyoto was highest at ¥17,900, followed by Tokyo (¥15,800), Nagano (¥14,100) and Yamanashi (¥13,700). Year-on-year growth was largest in Yamanashi (+32.7%), Nagano (+23.8%) and Hokkaido (+19.5%) — all prefectures where Indonesian stays grew in December.

Source: Compiled by MetroEngines Research and HotelBank Editorial Team (estimated settled ADR, median by prefecture across all property types, December 2025 and December 2024)

Source: Compiled by MetroEngines Research and HotelBank Editorial Team. ADR is the prefecture median of estimated settled rates (tax-excluded equivalent) and does not represent what Indonesian guests paid.

Hokkaido’s December ADR, at ¥9,400, is the second lowest among the ten prefectures after Aichi (¥9,100), yet its year-on-year growth is large. Because December is also the month when Indonesian guests make up a larger share at Hokkaido properties, there is room to build value aimed at this segment — such as family-friendly rooms and halal meals — into pricing.

For Operators — Opportunities in Prayer Space, Halal Breakfast and Family Rooms

To sum up, the Indonesian market comes down to three points: (1) it peaks in December and around Lebaran; (2) cities dominate over the year, but the regional share rises to about 30% in December; and (3) reviews value station access, cleanliness and room size, while halal options work as a pre-booking checklist item. Here are opportunities that regional hotels and ryokan can act on ahead of the holiday season starting in late December.

1. Publish information on prayer locations and times. Indonesia is a Muslim-majority country, and many travelers look for a place to pray while on the road. Even without a dedicated prayer room, simply listing on the property page the availability of a vacant meeting room or tatami room, a qibla (prayer direction) indicator, and directions to nearby mosques or prayer spaces can reduce pre-booking uncertainty. Since religious observance varies from person to person, describing concretely what you can offer tends to communicate better than making categorical promises.

2. Offer “choices” at breakfast. Providing halal-certified meals is ideal, but where that is a high hurdle there are step-by-step options: labeling dishes made without pork or alcohol, listing ingredients in multiple languages, and preparing fish- and vegetable-centered menus. Many of the properties earning praise in reviews clearly present such meal options. Because accurate labeling directly affects trust, it is important to state precisely what you can provide. The Japan Tourism Agency has also run a model program to expand special-diet support at accommodations.

3. Put rooms for families front and center. December is family travel season timed to school holidays, and in Kyoto and Hokkaido more than one in four reviews mentioned room size. Showing Japanese-Western rooms, rooms for four or more, and whether extra beds are available — with photos and occupancy guidelines — is effective. Information on distance from the station and airport access also overlaps with items rated highly in reviews.

When planning the timing, look beyond the year-end holiday from late December to early January and also to the holiday around Lebaran in 2027. Because of the shifting Islamic calendar, the 2027 holiday is expected to fall roughly another 10 days earlier than in 2026; the official schedule can be confirmed once the Indonesian government sets its public holidays and collective leave.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q. In which months do most Indonesian visitors come to Japan?

A. December was the busiest month in both 2024 and 2025, with 81,678 visitors in December 2025. The other peak is the holiday around the post-Ramadan festival (Lebaran), which moves about 11 days earlier each year in the Gregorian calendar, so the peak came in April in 2024, March–April in 2025 and March in 2026.

Q. Which prefectures do Indonesian guests stay in?

A. According to the 2025 final figures of the Japan Tourism Agency’s Overnight Travel Statistics Survey, of 2,011,230 guest nights, Tokyo accounted for 46.2%, Osaka 15.3%, Kyoto 7.9% and Hokkaido 7.5%. In December alone, Hokkaido’s share rises to 15.9%, second only to Tokyo.

Q. Can a property prepare to welcome these guests without halal certification?

A. Even where certification is difficult, there are step-by-step measures such as labeling dishes made without pork or alcohol, listing ingredients in multiple languages, and providing information on places to pray and nearby mosques. It is important to state accurately on the property page what you can provide.

Q. How many Indonesian guests stay at regional properties in December?

A. Of the 318,900 Indonesian guest nights in December 2025 recorded by the Japan Tourism Agency’s Overnight Travel Statistics Survey, regional areas outside the eight prefectures of the three major metropolitan areas accounted for 30.9%, higher than the 22.1% annual share. Hokkaido in particular recorded 50,740 guest nights, second only to Tokyo.

Q. What are December room rates in the prefectures with many Indonesian guests?

A. MetroEngines Research’s estimated settled ADR (median by prefecture across all property types) for December 2025 was ¥17,918 in Kyoto, ¥15,814 in Tokyo, ¥14,112 in Nagano, ¥13,680 in Yamanashi and ¥9,421 in Hokkaido. Year on year, Yamanashi rose 32.7%, Nagano 23.8% and Hokkaido 19.5%.

Methodology and Sources

Visitor arrivals use JNTO “Visitor Arrivals” estimates by nationality and month (Excel file released October 21, 2026). Guest nights are the final annual figures for 2024 and 2025 from the Japan Tourism Agency’s Overnight Travel Statistics Survey (Reference Table 1, facilities with 10 or more employees). The three major metropolitan areas are defined as the eight prefectures of Tokyo, Kanagawa, Chiba, Saitama, Aichi, Kyoto, Osaka and Hyogo, and all others as regional areas. The review analysis is based on an NLP tag analysis of guest reviews compiled by the HotelBank Editorial Team (most recent 24 months). Estimated settled ADR is MetroEngines Research’s median by prefecture across all property types; December 2025 and December 2024 are both closed-month values. MetroEngines Research tracks about 168,000 properties in Japan, of which about 27,000 properties (about 1.26 million rooms) confirmed as operating on OTAs are covered by the analysis.