Japan ranks 3rd among top world travel destinations after U.S., Spain: report

Japan ranked third in a list of destinations in a travel and tourism development report by the World Economic Forum released Tuesday, scoring highly for its natural and cultural resources and transport infrastructure.

The United States topped the list, with Spain coming second. Japan was the highest-ranking country in the Asia-Pacific region.

Japan ranked first place in the previous report released in 2021 during the coronavirus pandemic, but the organization used different criteria then.

Among individual criteria, Japan ranked second for cultural resources such as archaeological sites and entertainment facilities and fourth in the ground and port infrastructure category for its road and railway networks.

While Japan also ranked highly in the non-leisure resources category due to its high number of major corporations and prestigious universities, it scored relatively low in price competitiveness, tourist service and infrastructure indicators.

In the overall rankings, which evaluated 119 countries and regions, France came fourth, followed by Australia in fifth place. Among other Asia-Pacific countries, China placed eighth, Singapore 13th, and South Korea 14th.