Visitors to Japan rise 16.9 % in February
The estimated number of visitors to Japan shot up 16.9 % in February from a year before to 3,258,100, exceeding three million for the first time on record for the month, the Japan National Tourism Organization said Wednesday.
The growth was led by a 57.3 % surge to 722,700 in the number of visitors from China during the Lunar New Year holidays and because of an increase in flights between the two countries.
Visitors from South Korea numbered 847,300, the largest group by country or region and their highest level for February, up 3.5 %.
Visitors from the United States and Australia hit their respective highest levels for February amid the popularity of winter sports resorts.
There were 191,500 visitors from the United States, up 28.8 %, and 88,800 from Australia, up 33.5 %.
The total number of visitors to Japan in the first two months of this year leaped 28.5 % from the year before to 7,039,300.
"A good trend has been continuing," Naoya Haraikawa, commissioner of the Japan Tourism Agency, told a press conference.
The number of Japanese people going overseas in February surged 20.7 % from a year before to 1,181,100, still short of pre-pandemic levels due to a weaker yen and price increases.
[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]
Photo by Reuters
