Foreign Visitors To Japan More Than Double After Entry Restrictions Are Eased
The number of foreign visitors to Japan last month more than doubled from the previous month after the daily cap on arrivals was raised from 7,000 to 10,000.
The Japan National Tourism Organization says it estimates that 139,500 foreigners visited Japan in April. That is up 2.1 times from 66,100 in March.
The rate of growth from the same month last year was more than 12 times for the number in April, while the rate was five times in March.
The organization attributes the sharp increase mainly to the raising of the daily cap on arrivals that the government started from April 10.
But the number in April still remains low, down 95 percent from the same month in 2019, before the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic.
The government is considering raising the cap further to 20,000 and phasing out a ban on foreign tourists for sightseeing purposes from June.