In addition to its beautiful natural surrounding, such as Hakata Bay, and its sophisticated metropolitan features, Fukuoka City also carries on a proud tradition and rich cultural heritage. It remains a city with its own distinct character and charm, providing a diverse range of attractions to visitors including urban tourism inside the city proper, resort tourism at nearby resorts, historical tourism to see sights such as the Korokan guest house or the Gold Seal, festival tourism with the excitement of the Yamakasa, Dontaku or Asian Month, and gourmet tourism drawing on the rich bounty of the Genkai Sea.
In recent years, the city has been welcoming a growing number of domestic and international visitors as the hub of government, economy, culture and fashion in Kyushu. Facilities such as Fukuoka Tower, Marine World Uminonakamichi, Bayside Place Hakata Futoh, Hawks Town, Canal City Hakata, Hakata Riverain (Hakataza Theater, Fukuoka Asian Art Museum) and Marinoa City Fukuoka draw new visitors every year. As the transportation hub for land, air and sea, Fukuoka functions as the gateway for tourism routes covering all of Kyushu and western Japan.
The number of tourists visiting Fukuoka in 2007 reached 16.86 million people, due in part to the concentrations of hotels and related facilities in the downtown region. Overseas visitors entering Japan through Fukuoka Airport and Hakata Port amounted to 720,000 people, with Koreans and Taiwanese accounting for 80% of the total.