Local governments in Japan are rushing to make use of data on spending by visitors from overseas, amid a recovery in inbound travel following the lifting of pandemic controls.
Sumitomo Mitsui Card manages data on payments made with Visa-brand credit cards at about 2 million stores in Japan and provides a big data offering, including on travel routes taken by foreign tourists and their spending. The company has already received inquiries from nearly 100 local governments in fiscal 2023, which started in April.
Sumitomo Mitsui Card started selling big data to local governments in 2018. The data is provided after being anonymized and compiled by region and type of business.