The ongoing diplomatic rift between Japan and China has had a muted impact on overall tourist numbers as visitors to Japan grew 10.4 percent year-on-year last month, Japan’s tourism board said yesterday.
Arrivals from overseas for business and leisure over the month stood at 3.52 million, pushing the total for this year above 39 million, the Japan National Tourism Organization said.
The figures to the end of last month already exceed the record annual total of 36.87 million people logged last year.
Photo: EPA
Growth in visitors from China slowed to 3 percent last month, far below the 37.5 percent growth recorded across the whole year to the end of last month compared with the same period the previous year.
A diplomatic dispute following Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s remarks about Taiwan prompted China to urge its citizens not to travel to Japan last month.
Chinese airlines offered free refunds for flights up to the end of the year.
Tourism-related Japanese stocks such as department store operator Isetan Mitsukoshi and Tokyo Disneyland operator Oriental Land were battered in the immediate aftermath of the travel warning and have yet to recover.
Chinese tourists have nevertheless made up the largest cohort of visitors to Japan so far this year, accounting for nearly one-quarter of the total.
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