Foreign tourism in Japan down 97.7% in December

The tally of foreign visitors arriving in Japan in December remains very low as the ban on tourism remains.

Japan.- Foreign tourism in Japan in December was down by 97.7 per cent year-on-year according to figures from the Japan National Tourism Organization.

The tally of foreign visitors arriving in the country in the last month of 2020 was 58,700. That took the total number of visitors to Japan in 2020 to 4.1 million, down 87.1% against 2019.

The number of visitors has been down since the Covid-19 outbreak hit the region in January 2020.

Despite the resumption of international traffic since July, with a growth in the number of flights since October, entry for tourism purposes remains prohibited and entry from all foreign countries has been suspended since December 28 due to growing Covid-19 numbers.

There are concerns for Japan’s IR plans due to the inability for potential operators to visit locations such as Nagasaki and Yokohama as they launch their requests for proposals.

Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party is hoping IRs will help the nation attract 60 million visitors a year by 2030.