Record 470,000 Taiwanese visited Japan last month

Staff writer, with CNA





The number of Taiwanese visitors to Japan hit a monthly record high last month due to the Tomb Sweeping Day holiday, Japan National Tourism Organization (JNTO) statistics showed.

About 470,000 Taiwanese visited Japan last month, an increase of 56,652, or 13.7 percent, from a year earlier.

Taiwan had five days off for the holiday this year, compared with only four last year, which encouraged many people to travel overseas, the organization said, adding that Japan remained one of the most popular destinations for Taiwanese tourists.

International airlines were keen to provide more flights from Taiwan to Japan and there was an increase in cruise ships docking in Taiwan’s ports before heading to Japanese cities, increasing Taiwanese tourism, the agency said, adding that numbers were further boosted by the cherry blossom season.

In the first four months of the year, the number of Taiwanese visitors to Japan reached 1.61 million, up 161,752, or 11.2 percent, from a year earlier, the data showed.

Last month, Taiwanese visitors constituted the third-biggest group, only trailing those from China and South Korea, the agency said.

The number of Chinese visitors hit 683,400, up 29.2 percent from a year earlier, while a total of 638,500 South Koreans visited Japan, up 15.1 percent from a year earlier, it said.

A total of 2.9 million foreign tourists visited Japan last month, up 12.5 percent year-on-year, the country’s highest monthly increase, the data showed.

In the first four months of the year, the number of visitors rose 15.4 percent from a year earlier to 10.52 million.