Japan To Attract More Chinese Tourists In 2010

According to Japan's Chunbun "The Chinese Review", the Japanese government has recently decided to focus on China to attract more foreign tourists and it also plans to use a quarter of its budget in 2010 to attract foreign visitors: a total of JPY5 billion.

Yoshiaki Honpo, the commissioner of the Japan Tourism Agency, told local media that the number of foreign tourists visiting Japan in 2009 is expected decline compared with that of 2008. This will also be the first decrease since the launch of the Visit Japan Campaign in 2003.

The Japan Tourism Agency has attached much importance to the emerging market in China. In 2008, the number of Chinese tourists visiting Japan reached 1 million for the first time. Japanese personal tourist visas also became available to Chinese citizens in July 2009. The Japan National Tourism Organization will also try to attract Chinese enterprises to bring their employees or clients to Japan.

Latest statistics released by JNTO showed that in September 98,800 Chinese tourists visited Japan, an increase of 5.2% over the same period last year, which is also a historical high. In the list of the most 12 important markets for Japan, only the China market showed an increase.