According to the latest tourism trends compiled by Kyoto City Tourism Association on the basis of various surveys, including the 2018 comprehensive Kyoto tourism survey, the actual number of people visiting Kyoto has decreased slightly. However, the total number of overnight visitors, which is calculated by the actual number of visitors plus the total number of nights they stayed, has increased slightly, revealing that the percentage of staying visitors has been increasing.

The actual number of visitors to Kyoto showed a slightly downward trend from 56.84 million in 2015 to 52.75 million in 2018. On the other hand, the total number of overnight visitors grew from 77.2 million to 78.19 million. The proportion of overnight visitors in the overall total number of visitors has increased.

The number of guest rooms at accommodations in Kyoto City was approximately 30,000 at the end of fiscal 2015, but it was well over 40,000 at the end of fiscal 2018. The association estimates that the number will exceed 50,000 by the end of fiscal 2020.

The percentage of people who answered "unable to reserve accommodations" as the reason for not staying overnight in Kyoto decreased from 15.1% in 2015 to 9.4% in 2018. The association believes that increased number of guest rooms has led to the increase in number of overnight guests and the total length of their stay.

The number of foreign tourists visiting Japan has been increasing recently. A breakdown by region shows the percentage of visitors to Japan from Asia was 85.7%, with 92% of them entering at Kansai International Airport. However, the percentage of Asians who visited Kyoto was relatively low at 59.1%, whereas the percentage of Europeans and North Americans was higher. The year-on-year growth rate of total number of overnight visitors showed an outstanding increase in visitors from Europe, including increases of 74% from Italy, 60 % from Germany and 49% from France, in comparison with increases of 26% from China and 26% from Taiwan.

Kyoto City Tourism Association indicated the necessity of differentiating from Thailand and China, which are other popular tourist destinations within Asia for European and North American tourists. It also emphasized the necessity of increasing the supply of accommodations so that tourists, who tend to travel to various locales nationwide, can use Kyoto as their base.