On Wednesday (Apr 19), official data showed that visitors to Japan surged in March to their highest level. This is the highest level since the COVID-19 pandemic, with overseas tourists flocking to see the nation’s famous cherry blossoms for the first time in four years. The travel curbs in Japan is eased.
The Japan National Tourism Organisation reported that the number of foreign visitors for business and leisure stood at 1.82 million in March. Up from 1.48 million in February.
“In March of this year, arrivals decreased by 34 percent compared to March 2019. This was before the adoption of pandemic travel restrictions the following year.”
Japan has been steadily resuming visa-free travel for many countries since October. And it halted pre-arrival COVID-19 tests for travellers from China on Apr 5.
“From May 8, it is also scheduled to remove all remaining infection controls.”
As the pandemic began to widen in March 2020, Japan placed travel curbs on visitors from China and South Korea. These are its two largest inbound markets.
Tourism to Japan almost entirely halted for over two years until a gradual reopening starting in June 2022.
According to the tourism data, Chinese visitors last month more than doubled to 75,700 from February.
“However, the current number is still small compared to the record figure of 9.5 million visitors in 2019.
A full recovery in Chinese tourist numbers is likely to take time due to a shortage of flights and Beijing’s remaining curbs on the destinations of group tours by citizens.