DALIAN, China--About 100 Chinese from three sightseeing tours had filed applications for Japanese visas by April 27, ending a dearth in tours of Japan caused by the March 11 Great East Japan Earthquake, Uichiro Niwa, Japan's ambassador to China, said.
DALIAN, China--About 100 Chinese from three sightseeing tours had filed applications for Japanese visas by April 27, ending a dearth in tours of Japan caused by the March 11 Great East Japan Earthquake, Uichiro Niwa, Japan's ambassador to China, said.
The visas have already been issued, and the tourists were to leave for the Kyushu and Kansai regions on April 29 and 30. Tours account for more than 90 percent of Chinese sightseers, and their resumption is good news for the Japanese tourism industry.
Chinese tourists had avoided Japan partly because the National Tourism Administration of China advised tourism agencies and other parties to refrain from traveling to disaster-hit areas of Japan. In addition, concerns about radiation from the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant scared away sightseers.
Tourism in Japan is highly popular among Chinese travelers. According to the Japan National Tourism Organization, 1.41 million Chinese visited Japan last year, a sharp increase of about 40 percent from 2009.
The number was expected to grow further this year before the March 11 disaster.