All Out for Tourism: Record-High 1.6 M Foreign Tourists in Jan.- Oct.
Altogether 1.631 million foreign tourists visited Japan in the Jan.-Oct. period this year, the most ever per annum, disclosed the Tourist Bureau, November 18. It was bared also that the number of tax-free stores had tripled over the period to 29,049 as of October 10.
In the month of October 1,829,330 foreign tourists visited Japan, the second highest next to July. By country, China topped with 445,600, slightly less than in July when 490-590 thousand visited.
The government has installed a new commission "Tourist Vision to Support Tomorrow's Japan" chaired by Prime Minister Abe himself. The commission met for the first time earlier on November 9, where Prime Minister Abe said in his opening speech that his administration gives priority to economy targeting 600 trillion yen in GDP and expects tourism to be the driving engine to achieve that end.
Prime Minister Abe further elaborated:
"My administration has taken policy measures for relaxing visa requirements, expanding the tax-free system, enforcing the CIQ setups, etc. just to boost Japan's tourist industry.
"Our efforts are paying off in the total number of foreign tourists visiting Japan increasing from 8 million in 2012 to close to 20 million this year.
"Our country abounds in rich tourist resources and has a huge potential to be a tourism-oriented nation, as we have fast developing Asian countries as our neighbors. France is visited by 80 million foreign tourists; 30 million visit another island nation - Britain", stressed Prime Minister Abe.
He said 20 million is only a checkpoint and encouraged the commission to draft a roadmap for tourism to the next stage Japan should target.
No wonder then that we spot more foreigners lately in the streets, scenic spots, festive events, etc. Some shopping districts are congested with eager tourist-shoppers.
