JNTO says tourism in March came close to predisaster levels

Tourism arrival numbers into Japan for March have returned close to pre-disaster levels, the Japan National Tourism Organisation (JNTO) revealed.

According to JNTO visitor arrival numbers to Japan reached approximately 678,500 for the month of March this year, down only 4.4 percent from March 2010, The Japan Times reported.

Since the devastating earthquake and tsunami that struck the region last year the tourist arrival numbers dropped to 352,666, which in comparison to the arrival figures for March this year represents a 92.4 percent rebound.

Additionally, compared to March 2010, visitors from China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Britain and India also rose, however visitors from South Korea dropped a considerable 11 percent.

Whilst visitor arrival numbers into Japan are on the increase, the number of outbound Japanese travellers for March has also increased by 21.4 percent to 1.73 million compared to the previous year.