The Japan National Tourism Organization reported Wednesday that the number of foreign visitors to Japan in January is expected to be about 1,497,300, which is 55.7% of what it was before the epidemic began in January 2019.
The latest figure is 84.3 times the level it was compared to January 2022, when the government had strict COVID 19 border control measures in place. The data shows an upward trend of visitors to Japan, especially from Asian countries, excluding China.
By country and region, 565,200, or 37.7%, arrived from South Korea, 259,300 from Taiwan, 151,900 from Hong Kong, 88,100 from the United States and 63,400 from Thailand.
The increase in tourists has been contributed to by the resumption of direct flights from many countries and regions to various parts of Japan.
Most foreign tourists were from China before the epidemic. As a result of continued sales restrictions on travel packages in Japan and tighter border controls in Japan, only about 31,200 Chinese tourists are estimated to have visited Japan in January.