Japan's August Foreign Visitors Fall 9.6% Year-on-Year; Mainland Chinese Visitors Plunge 59%

Japan National Tourism Organization estimated on September 16 that August foreign visitors totaled 3.0989 million, down 9.6% year-on-year, the first decline in a month. Mainland Chinese visitors fell 59.0% to 418,000, the ninth consecutive monthly decline, affected by deteriorating Japan-China relations and Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi's remarks on Taiwan. South Korean visitors were the largest group at 850,500, up 28.7%. Typhoon-related flight cancellations and rising fuel surcharges also contributed; ANA and Japan Airlines raised fuel surcharges for July-August tickets to record highs. Cumulative visitors from January to August totaled 27.6263 million, down 2.7% year-on-year.