Visitors to Japan Top Prepandemic Level for 1st Time

Tokyo, Nov. 15 (Jiji Press)--The number of visitors to Japan in October exceeded the pre-COVID-19 pandemic level for the first time, the Japan National Tourism Organization said Wednesday.

An estimated 2,516,500 foreign nationals visited the Asian nation during the reporting month, up 0.8 pct from October 2019, before the spread of COVID-19. The latest figure was up by around fivefold from the same month last year.

After plummeting in 2020, the number of such visitors has been on a sharp rebound since autumn last year, in response to the relaxation and eventual removal of COVID-19-related border control measures and the weakening of the yen.

The number of visitors from countries and regions other than mainland China, which was slow to remove restrictions on travel to Japan, was up 28 pct from the prepandemic level, reflecting an influx mainly from South Korea, Southeast Asia and the United States.

The total number of foreign visitors to Japan in January-October came to 19,891,100, recovering to 73.9 pct of the same period in 2019.

The Japanese government aims to boost by 2025 the annual number of foreign visitors above the current record high of 31.88 million, marked in 2019.

In the reporting month, the number of visitors from South Korea was highest by region at 631,100, the country's record high for October. The figure was up by threefold from that of 2019, when the number had dropped due to the spread of a movement in the country to boycott Japanese products.

Taiwan came second with 424,800 visitors, while the United States hit a record high for the month at 211,900. Visitors from Hong Kong stood at 179,300.

The number from mainland China totaled 256,300, 35.1 pct of the prepandemic level. China resumed group tours to Japan in August, but the recovery was sluggish partly due to fewer holidays.
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