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The estimated number of visitors to Japan in July jumped 19.7 percent from a year before to an all-time monthly high of 2.297 million, thanks in part to robust travel demand in the summer holiday season, data from a government agency showed Wednesday.
The previous record high was 2.082 million in April this year.
The growth also reflected continued campaigns to attract visitors to Japan and increases in the number of cruise ship visits and flights to the country, the Japan National Tourism Organization said.
“The number of foreign visitors increased steadily as a whole,” Akihiko Tamura, commissioner of the Japan Tourism Agency, told a press conference.
Travel demand from South Korea has started to recover from the slump reflecting a series of strong earthquakes that hit Kumamoto Prefecture in April.
The number of visitors to Japan in January-July grew 26.7 percent to 14.01 million, the JNTO said.
If the current pace continues, the total number of visitors to Japan in 2016 is seen reaching 24 million to 25 million, compared with 19.74 million in 2015.
The cumulative number is expected to top 20 million by the end of November at the latest if there are no special external negative factors, Tamura said.
In July, the number of visitors from mainland China came to 731,400, up 26.8 percent, surpassing the 700,000 mark for the first time for any month and for any country or region, on the back of a sharp rise in cruise ship visits, the JNTO said.
(JIJI PRESS)
