Number of foreign visitors to Japan drops for 7th month on quake, nuclear crisis

 TOKYO, Oct 21 (KUNA) -- The number of foreign visitors to Japan in September declined 24.9 percent from a year earlier, marking the seventh month of fall in the wake of the March 11 earthquake, tsunami and the subsequent nuclear crisis, the government said on Friday.
An estimated 539,000 foreigners arrived in Japan last month on sightseeing or business, according to the Japan National Tourism Organization. However, the rate of decrease has slowed, compared with a 31.9 percent decline in August. The triple disasters in March slashed the number of foreign visitors by 62.
5 percent in April for the biggest fall since records began in 1964. Among the countries, the number of South Korean travelers dropped 36.9 percent to 122, 400, while those from China plunged 18.0 percent year-on-year to 112,600, the tourism bureau said.
According to the bureau, business travelers are coming back to Japan, but families with children are still reluctant to visit Japan due to the nuclear crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi power plant, about 230 km northeast of Tokyo. The recent yen's surge also makes travel to Japan more expensive, it said. The Japan Tourism Agency Commissioner Hiroshi Mizohata said, "Overseas tourists are returning to Japan earlier than we expected." Mizohata also told reporters that the agency plans to launch a new campaign to attract foreign tourists. (end) mk.ajs KUNA 211820 Oct 11NNNN