Japan Tourism Agency Minister: "Due to COVID-19 Impact, China-Japan Air Routes Reduced by 70%"

[Asia Economy Reporter Seulgina Jo] Hiroshi Tabata, Japan Tourism Agency Minister, announced on the 19th that the number of flights connecting Japan and China has decreased by about 70% compared to before the COVID-19 outbreak.

According to the Nihon Keizai Shimbun and others, Minister Tabata said at a press conference on the same day, "The biggest impact is on the number of Chinese visitors to Japan, but there is also a trend of postponing travel in other regions, so we will monitor the figures from February onward."

On the same day, according to the Japan National Tourism Organization (JNTO), the number of foreign tourists visiting Japan in January was recorded at 2,661,000, a 1.1% decrease compared to the same month last year. Due to the ongoing boycott movement since last year, the number of Korean visitors to Japan in January sharply declined by nearly 60% compared to a year earlier. In the case of Chinese visitors, visits to Japan decreased from the end of January when the impact of COVID-19 became serious, but the total for the month increased by more than 20%.