Japan welcomed more than 100,000 monthly visitors for the first time in more than two years in April, with an estimated 139,500 foreign visitors entering the country according to figures from the Japan National Tourism Organization.
Not since March 2020, just prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, have visitor arrivals topped 100,000 although April’s figure was still 95.2% lower than April 2019.
The month-on-month improvement comes after Japan increased its maximum daily intake of visitors to 10,000 in early April which has led to an increase in business arrivals, international students and technical interns, according to local media reports.
There are also plans to double the current daily cap to 20,000 in June while a trial will begin next week allowing small groups of tourists to enter from locations such as Australia, Singapore, Thailand and the United States.
Tourism officials said Vietnam was the largest single source of visitor arrivals in April with 29,800, followed by China with 22,400, Indonesia with 11,700 and the Philippines with 8,500.