Disaster-hit Japan sees drop in arrivals in September

Disaster-hit Japan sees drop in arrivals in September

A boat cruises in front of the Rainbow Bridge at Odaiba in Tokyo on Thursday. (Reuters photo)
A boat cruises in front of the Rainbow Bridge at Odaiba in Tokyo on Thursday. (Reuters photo)

TOKYO: The number of monthly foreign visitors to Japan dropped for the first time since 2013 in September, the fall coming after a slew of natural disasters including a large earthquake and damaging typhoon, government data showed on Tuesday.

The estimated number of foreign visitors totalled 2,159,600 in September, down 5.3% from the year before, according to the Japan Tourism Agency.

"The figure reflects the impact of a magnitude 6.7 earthquake that rocked Japan's northernmost island prefecture of Hokkaido on Sept 6, killing more than 40 people and triggering a prefecture-wide blackout,'' the agency said.

A typhoon that forced the temporary closure of Kansai International Airport in Osaka, the main international gateway by air to the western Japan region, also hit the number of visitors, according to the agency.

The foreign visitor figures posted double-digit year-on-year growth between February and June, but the pace of the increase slowed in July and August following an earthquake that jolted Osaka and torrential rains that devastated wide areas of western Japan.

By country and region, the largest number of tourists came from China at 652,700, down 3.8%, followed by South Korea at 479,700, down 13.9%, and Taiwan at 329,100, down 5.4%.

Fewer visitors from China may partly reflect that country's economic slowdown. That matters because China accounts for about a third of overall tourism to Japan.

The number of Chinese tourists coming to the country grew at a double-digit pace over much of the past year until August, when growth slowed to 4.9%.

Changes to Japan's "minpaku," or home-sharing laws, have also made it harder for tourists to get Airbnb-style rooms.

The total number of foreign travellers to Japan in the January to September period reached 23,468,500, up 10.7% from a year earlier, according to the data.

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