Kinki, Home to Kyoto and Osaka: What Kind of Trip Would You Like to Take?
Kinki is a region in the west-central part of Honshu, Japan’s main island. This article covers seven prefectures: Mie, Shiga, Kyoto, Osaka, Hyogo, Nara, and Wakayama.
Historic temples and shrines, and traditional streets. Lively cities and views of the sea and lakes. You may already have heard the names Kyoto and Osaka.
You might visit historic places, explore a city, or enjoy local food. You can also spend a relaxing stay in a hot spring town or in nature.
If you have been here before, think of the hotels or other places you stayed. If you are planning a visit, imagine somewhere you would like to stay.
Take a moment to picture your own journey.
How have Kinki’s hotels and ryokan—traditional Japanese inns—changed through the pandemic?
We will compare guest nights in 2019, before the pandemic; 2021, during it; and 2025, after it, through a map and a data card.
As a way to get to know Kinki, shall we explore together how its hotels and ryokan have changed?
Explore Hotels and Ryokan in Kinki on the Map
Select a prefecture on the map to see total guest nights, the share accounted for by foreign nationals, establishments, guest rooms, room occupancy, and other figures. Switch between 2019, 2021, and 2025 to compare changes through the pandemic.
You can also search by prefecture name, use voice search, or move to other regions using the buttons at the bottom of the screen.
Start with a prefecture you have visited or somewhere you would like to go.
How Have Guest Nights Changed in Kinki?
Total guest nights in Kinki’s seven prefectures fell from 114,260,920 in 2019 to 51,655,770 in 2021. They then rose to 130,661,420 in 2025.
The recovery rate for 2025 compared with 2019 was 114.4%. Across Kinki as a whole, guest nights exceeded the pre-pandemic level.
Guest nights for foreign nationals also exceeded the 2019 level, and their share of total guest nights increased.
The number of hotels and ryokan was slightly below its fiscal 2019 level, while the number of guest rooms increased.
Switch between the data card’s tabs to see the breakdown of guest nights, establishments and guest rooms, and licenses issued and closures across the lodging industry as a whole. Comparing the card with the map reveals differences between the figures for Kinki as a whole and those for each prefecture.
What I Noticed While Making the Map
Guest nights in Kinki as a whole exceeded the pre-pandemic level. Yet, when you look at individual prefectures, guest nights and room occupancy have not necessarily recovered in the same way.
Guest nights for foreign nationals increased in some prefectures and decreased in others. Comparing the regional total with the figures for each prefecture reveals different patterns of change.
From places you remember to places you would like to visit next.
Shall we explore how hotels and ryokan in Kinki have changed, moving between the map and the data card?
Sources: Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, Report on Public Health Administration and Services; Japan Tourism Agency, Accommodation Survey.
- Accommodation figures cover the calendar years 2019, 2021, and 2025 (January–December).
- Figures for establishments, guest rooms, licenses issued, and closures cover fiscal years 2019, 2021, and 2024.
- Guest nights count each guest for each night of their stay. One person staying for three nights counts as three guest nights.
- The maps and data cards use the Japanese labels “日本人” (“Japanese”) and “外国人” (“foreign nationals”) to reflect the statistical categories. Guest nights for Japanese nationals are calculated by subtracting guest nights for foreign nationals from total guest nights.
- The recovery rate is calculated as total guest nights in 2025 ÷ total guest nights in 2019 × 100.