Foreign visitors to Japan top 20 million by June for first time
The figure topped 20 million at the fastest pace on record.
The Japan National Tourism Organization says an estimated 3.37 million foreigners visited Japan in June, up 7.6 percent from a year earlier and the highest figure ever for the month.
Visitors from South Korea rose by 7.7 percent during the period, followed by those from China, up 53.5 percent.
Russian tourists roughly doubled from the same period last year, increasing by 103.7 percent.
Regions and countries whose numbers rose significantly included the Middle East, at 53.8 percent, and Spain, at 49.1 percent.
Meanwhile, visitors from Hong Kong edged down 0.4 percent. The JNTO attributes the drop to unfounded rumors that Japan would suffer a major calamity in early July.
The Japan Tourism Agency says foreign travelers spent a record 32.27 billion dollars in the country in the half-year. That's up 22.9 percent from the same period last year.
JTA Commissioner Murata Shigeki said Japan is a popular destination for travelers from Asia, which accounts for about 80 percent of foreigners traveling to the country.
He noted that it remains on a strong growth trajectory as air travel has recovered.
He plans to come up with new promotional strategies and hopes to lure more travelers to visit rural Japan to hit the Japanese government's target of bringing 60 million foreign travelers by 2030.
Murata also said the government had denied as groundless rumors of an impending natural disaster, but some travelers in Hong Kong refrained from visiting Japan nonetheless. He said the agency will continue to reflect on what it can do in the face of such a situation.
He said he's monitoring travel trends from Hong Kong, after hearing that interest in tours to Japan is growing.
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