Over the course of a three-day long Safari Zone event, Pokemon Go helped generate roughly $16 million in travel and tourism revenue for Japan’s Tottori Prefecture.
The augmented reality mobile game may have slowed down some since its initial launch in July 2016, but continued updates and support from developer Niantic seem to be keeping the game’s playerbase within healthy levels.
According to Pocket Gamer, the event attracted as many as 89,000 people to Japan’s Tottori Sand Dunes and the surrounding area, nearly tripling the attendance organizers estimated ahead of the event.
Additionally, by the Tottori regional government’s count, the Pokemon Go crowd also broke a record for the area by doubling the previous visitor record.
Niantic meanwhile has just recently secured an additional $200 million in funding to make “long-term investments” in the field of augmented reality. That financial boost rolled in just weeks after the company announced it is developing a Harry Potter-themed augmented reality game alongside the Warner Bros Interactive subsidiary Portkey Games.