© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: Guests journey boats subsequent to blooming cherry blossoms at Chidorigafuchi Park in Tokyo, Japan, March 22, 2023. REUTERS/Issei Kato/File Photograph
TOKYO (Reuters) – Japan noticed a slight decline in guests in Might from the earlier month, when a rush of vacationers got here to see the nation’s well-known cherry blossoms with out COVID-19 restrictions, official knowledge confirmed on Wednesday.
The variety of international guests for enterprise and leisure got here in just under 1.9 million final month from a post-pandemic excessive of 1.95 million in April, the Japan Nationwide Tourism Organisation (JNTO) mentioned.
Arrivals had been down 31.5% from the extent in Might 2019, earlier than the coronavirus outbreak.
Travellers from China, beforehand Japan’s largest vacationer section and the lifeblood of many retailers, grew 24% to 134,400 in June, although nonetheless far under 2019 ranges.
Tourism to Japan all however halted for greater than two years throughout the pandemic, however the numbers have risen steadily because the authorities resumed visa-free journey for a lot of nations in October. It scrapped remaining an infection controls on Might 8.
In the meantime, the yen has weakened sharply towards different main currencies, making journeys to Japan the most cost effective in a few years. Shopper-focused companies are beginning to really feel the advantages.
Mid-June gross sales figures at main malls indicated sturdy demand from Chinese language guests, significantly within the western vacationer locations of Osaka and Kyoto, in accordance with Jefferies analyst Mitsuko Miyasako.
Cosmetics gross sales at Takashimaya and J.Entrance Retailing rebounded to simply beneath 70% of 2019 ranges, she wrote in a report.
Occupancy for Air Canada’s flights to Japan was 95% in Might, even greater than in pre-COVID occasions, mentioned Kiyo Weiss, senior director of gross sales for the Asia-Pacific area.
“Japan has been considered for a very long time as a bucket checklist nation by North American leisure travellers,” she mentioned. “Now that Japan has reopened to vacationers and the present alternate charge makes leisure journeys inexpensive, we expect this pattern will proceed to develop.”
