Japan welcomed 2.79 million visitors in February, a record for the month and the most for any month since the Covid-19 pandemic began, boosted by travel during Lunar New Year holidays.
The number of foreign visitors for business and leisure was up from 2.69 million in January, data from the Japan National Tourism Organization (JNTO) showed on Tuesday.
Arrivals in February were 7.1 per cent higher than in 2019, when the Lunar New Year also fell in the second month of the year rather than the first. For all of 2019, Japan welcomed a record 31.9 million visitors before the pandemic struck.
Tourism to Japan all but stopped for more than two years during the pandemic. Since then, the industry has received a major boost from a weak yen that has made Japan a bargain destination for foreign travellers.
Current account data in January showed a record gain attributable to inbound tourism, illustrating the sector’s widening role in the economy. Visitors spent more than 5 trillion yen (USD 33.3 billion) in the country last year for the first time, exceeding the government’s goal.
Travellers from 19 of 23 countries and territories, including South Korea and the United States, set records for February, the JNTO said. Japan is the top destination for travellers from 12 countries on Agoda’s online booking platform, said Agoda Chief Executive Omri Morgenshtern.
“Demand for Japan is very strong,” Morgenshtern said. “I assume, overall, you will see 2024 in the 2019 levels or slightly above.”
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Japan welcomed 2.79 million visitors in February, a record for the month and the most for any month since the Covid-19 pandemic began, boosted by travel during Lunar New Year holidays.
The number of foreign visitors for business and leisure was up from 2.69 million in January, data from the Japan National Tourism Organization (JNTO) showed on Tuesday.
Arrivals in February were 7.1 per cent higher than in 2019, when the Lunar New Year also fell in the second month of the year rather than the first. For all of 2019, Japan welcomed a record 31.9 million visitors before the pandemic struck.
Tourism to Japan all but stopped for more than two years during the pandemic. Since then, the industry has received a major boost from a weak yen that has made Japan a bargain destination for foreign travellers.
Current account data in January showed a record gain attributable to inbound tourism, illustrating the sector’s widening role in the economy. Visitors spent more than 5 trillion yen (USD 33.3 billion) in the country last year for the first time, exceeding the government’s goal.
Travellers from 19 of 23 countries and territories, including South Korea and the United States, set records for February, the JNTO said. Japan is the top destination for travellers from 12 countries on Agoda’s online booking platform, said Agoda Chief Executive Omri Morgenshtern.
“Demand for Japan is very strong,” Morgenshtern said. “I assume, overall, you will see 2024 in the 2019 levels or slightly above.”
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India has emerged as Nepal’s top inbound tourist market in February, the tourism authority here said on Saturday, as the key sector in the Himalayan nation is gradually witnessing recovery from the onslaught of the coronavirus pandemic. Of the total 97,426 tourists arriving in the country by air route last month, 25,578 were from India, followed by China with 9,180 and the US with 9,089 visitors, according to data published by the Nepal Tourism Board (NTB).
Thailand is in fourth place with 4,799 inbound visitors, while the UK and Bangladesh ranked fifth and sixth in the list with 4,571 and 4,099 tourists respectively.
According to NTB Director Mani Lamichhane, though the data showed over 25,000 Indians visiting Nepal in February, the actual number is much higher as a large number of tourists from India visited the country via land route.
In January, Nepal received 18,041 visitors from India.
The number of tourists arriving via air route in Nepal in February is 33 per cent up from February 2023, which witnessed arrival of 73,255 visitors. As compared to 2019, the pre-Covid 19 period, it was 95.12 per cent recovery. The number of tourists arrival in Nepal in February 2019 was 1,02,423, the NTB said.
Nepal’s tourism sector, which is badly affected by COVID-19, is expected to revive in 2024, and the February data is a positive indication, NTB Director Lamichhane said.
As the tourism season in Nepal starts after March, the number of visitors will significantly increase from next month, he said.
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