Japan Sees 1st Monthly Fall in Visitors in Over 5 Years

October 17, 2018

Tokyo- Japan saw the first decline in the number of visitors from abroad in five years and eight months in September, due to major natural disasters early in the month, government estimates showed on Tuesday.

The number of inbound visitors in the month is estimated at 2,159,600, down 5.3 pct year on year, the Japan National Tourism Organization said.

Many people in East Asia are believed to have canceled their planned visits to the country in the aftermath of Typhoon Jebi, which caused a temporary shutdown of Kansai International Airport in Osaka Prefecture, as well as a powerful earthquake in Hokkaido.

Visitors from each of the top four countries and regions--mainland China, South Korea, Taiwan and Hong Kong--were fewer than a year earlier. They account for about three quarters of the September total.

"People in South Korea and Hong Kong tend to react nervously to earthquakes," Japan Tourism Agency Commissioner Hiroshi Tabata said, downplaying concerns that the disasters' impact could last long.

In January-September, the number of foreign tourists increased 10.7 pct to 23,468,500, according to the estimates.

Growth in the monthly visitor count had been decelerating since July, when a massive rain disaster battered western Japan areas, before turning negative in September.

Despite the drop, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga told a press conference on Tuesday that the government keeps its goal of attracting 40 million visitors in 2020.

The tourism agency said in a separate report the same day that spending by foreign tourists in July-September shrank 44.9 billion yen from the previous quarter to total 1,088.4 billion yen.

The spending amount was 142.2 billion yen smaller than a year earlier, although the year-on-year comparison is not necessarily precise because of a change in the survey method, it noted.

Following the recent natural disasters, the agency called on airlines to discount fares for flights to the affected Kansai region and Hokkaido, in a bid to help restore passenger demand.

"There are signs of recovery in demand" for flights to the Kansai region, where the damaged airport has been reopened, Tabata said.

On the other hand, foreign tourists remain reluctant to visit Hokkaido after the strong earthquake, according to local tourism industry sources, although the government has launched a program to cover up to 70 pct of hotel and other costs for them. Jiji Press