Visitors to Japan in Aug. at 85 Pct of Pre-COVID Level

Tokyo, Sept. 20 (Jiji Press)--The estimated number of visitors to Japan in August recovered to 85.6 pct of the level marked just before the COVID-19 pandemic, the Japan National Tourism Organization said Wednesday. The figure stood at 2,156,900 against 2,520,134 in August 2019. Compared with a year before, the latest number jumped about 13-fold. The number of visitors topped 80 pct of prepandemic levels for the first time, thanks to the resumption of group tours from China and the effects of the weak yen. Visitors from mainland China increased to over 360,000 from some 310,000 in July. But the number remained at 36.4 pct of the August 2019 level, due partly to trip cancellations spurred by Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc.'s release of tritium-containing treated water from its Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant into the ocean. The largest number of visitors came from South Korea at 569,100, followed by Taiwan at 396,300. Visitors from mainland China, who accounted for about 30 pct of all foreign visitors before the pandemic, ranked third at 364,100, followed by Hong Kong at 206,300 and the United States at 138,400. With the surge in the number of visitors to Japan, tourist spots including the western city of Kyoto are starting to see overtourism, which occurs when there are too many visitors, causing adverse effects on local residents' lives and the natural environment such as traffic congestion, waste and noise pollution. The government plans to draw up concrete measures to deal with the issue as early as this autumn. END