Foreign visitor numbers to Japan last year plunged at the fastest pace in nearly four decades due to the global recession, a strong yen and the swine flu scare, official data showed Monday. A total of 6.79 million foreign tourists and business travellers came to Japan in 2009, down 18.7 percent from a record 8.35 million the previous year, the Japan National Tourism Organisation (JNTO) said.
"We believe Japan has a lot to attract foreign tourists, but the year 2009 was hit by the yen's rise, which made trips to Japan more expensive when the travel industry was reeling from an economic slump," a JNTO researcher said. "Scares over the new influenza also contributed to the drop," he said.
The fall was the sharpest since 1971, when arrivals dropped 22.7 percent from the previous year when an international exposition was held in Osaka, according to the organisation for tourism research and promotion. Japan's new centre-left government, which took power last summer, is hoping to boost tourism as a cash earner for the country whose population is shrinking.
Tourists have been drawn by Japan's traditional culture and scenic beauty but also its pop culture, from anime to fashion, and its high-tech products. Common complaints from tourists include that fewer shops accept credit cards than in other developed countries and that not many people speak foreign languages, said JNTO researcher Naoki Morikawa.
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