Travel News International travellers exceed one million for the first time since 2020

[thomas]

Today, the Japan National Tourism Organization announced that visitors to Japan soared to 1.37 million in December, topping the one-million mark for the first time since the coronavirus pandemic started in February 2020. December's figure was 1.5 times that of November's.

South Korea topped the list of countries and territories from which travelers arrived, at 456,100. It was followed by Taiwan, at 170,200, and Hong Kong, at 141,300. The number of Chinese visitors remained flat at 33,500 because the data was recorded before China ended its zero-COVID policy. The overall total of foreign travelers in December was still only 54.2 percent for the same month in 2019, just before the pandemic struck. The number of Japanese traveling overseas totaled 432,100 in December, showing lackluster demand, according to the JNTO.

International travelers top 1 million for 1st time since 2020 | The Asahi Shimbun: Breaking News, Japan News and Analysis

In 2022, Japan saw an estimated 3.83 million visitors, over 15 times more than the 245,900 it logged in 2021 due to a full border reopening. Preliminary statistics released by the Japan National Tourism Organization (JNTO) on Wednesday showed that the industry still has a long way to go to repeat the boom seen before the COVID-19 pandemic. Last year's number of visitors was still 88% lower than in 2019.

Throughout 2022, the top source of visitors was by far South Korea, with a total of 1 million of its nationals entering Japan. Travelers from Taiwan took second place, numbering 331,100, followed by 323,500 Americans and 284,100 Vietnamese. The number of Chinese travelers, normally the biggest group of tourists, remained low at 189,000 in 2022, compared with 42,239 in 2021. Beijing's prolonged zero-COVID policy, including restrictions on outbound travel, kept the numbers a far cry from the 9.6 million Chinese who visited Japan in 2019.

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asia.nikkei.com