ID :
175504
Thu, 04/14/2011 - 18:47
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://oananews.org//node/175504
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Foreign visitors to Japan plunge 50% in March: gov't
TOKYO, April 14 Kyodo - The number of foreign travelers visiting Japan in March is estimated to have halved from a year earlier in the wake of the March 11 earthquake and tsunami and the subsequent nuclear crisis, the Japan National Tourism Organization said Thursday.
Foreign arrivals fell 50.3 percent to an estimated 352,800 in the month, the sharpest drop since comparable data began to be compiled in January 1961 and the first year-to-year fall since October 2009.
If the crisis at the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant is prolonged, foreign travelers may continue to avoid visiting Japan, the organization said, adding that the decline in March was close to the level in March 1999.
Comparing data from before and after the March 11 quake and tsunami, the average number of foreign travelers arriving in Japan each day dropped from 19,600 to 6,900 in the reporting month.
Of the 15 countries and regions targeted in a Japan Tourism Agency invitation campaign, the number of travelers from Germany saw the biggest decline of 64.6 percent.
Visitors from China, which has increasingly become an important market, decreased 49.3 percent, due partly to the post-quake cancellation of tours that organized cruises from China to Kyushu in southwestern Japan.
The government has set a goal of attracting more than 11 million foreign visitors to Japan in 2011, but Koichiro Ichimura, parliamentary secretary for tourism, told a press conference Thursday that ''it will be quite difficult to exceed 10 million.'' In 2010, the total number of foreign visitors arriving in Japan stood at 8,611,175.
The tourism organization and other authorities have been engaged in various efforts to counter damaging rumors, including disclosing information online regarding radiation levels in Japan and the current situation in areas devastated by the earthquake and tsunami.
They plan to invite foreign media and tour operators to Japan from May with the aim of promoting the country and attracting back visitors from overseas.
The number of Japanese people departing for overseas destinations in March fell 18 percent from the previous year to 1,282,000 amid a mood of self-restraint following the devastating earthquake and tsunami in northeastern and eastern Japan that killed more than 13,000 and have left over 14,000 unaccounted for.
Foreign arrivals fell 50.3 percent to an estimated 352,800 in the month, the sharpest drop since comparable data began to be compiled in January 1961 and the first year-to-year fall since October 2009.
If the crisis at the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant is prolonged, foreign travelers may continue to avoid visiting Japan, the organization said, adding that the decline in March was close to the level in March 1999.
Comparing data from before and after the March 11 quake and tsunami, the average number of foreign travelers arriving in Japan each day dropped from 19,600 to 6,900 in the reporting month.
Of the 15 countries and regions targeted in a Japan Tourism Agency invitation campaign, the number of travelers from Germany saw the biggest decline of 64.6 percent.
Visitors from China, which has increasingly become an important market, decreased 49.3 percent, due partly to the post-quake cancellation of tours that organized cruises from China to Kyushu in southwestern Japan.
The government has set a goal of attracting more than 11 million foreign visitors to Japan in 2011, but Koichiro Ichimura, parliamentary secretary for tourism, told a press conference Thursday that ''it will be quite difficult to exceed 10 million.'' In 2010, the total number of foreign visitors arriving in Japan stood at 8,611,175.
The tourism organization and other authorities have been engaged in various efforts to counter damaging rumors, including disclosing information online regarding radiation levels in Japan and the current situation in areas devastated by the earthquake and tsunami.
They plan to invite foreign media and tour operators to Japan from May with the aim of promoting the country and attracting back visitors from overseas.
The number of Japanese people departing for overseas destinations in March fell 18 percent from the previous year to 1,282,000 amid a mood of self-restraint following the devastating earthquake and tsunami in northeastern and eastern Japan that killed more than 13,000 and have left over 14,000 unaccounted for.
