Visitors to Japan Reach 56 Pct of Pre-Pandemic Level in Feb.

Tokyo, March 15 (Jiji Press)--An estimated 1,475,300 foreign citizens visited Japan in February, up about 88-fold from a year before and 56.6 pct of the level four years earlier, before the COVID-19 pandemic, the Japan National Tourism Organization said Wednesday.

The number of foreign visitors to Japan has been on the rise since the Japanese government significantly eased its pandemic border controls last autumn.

In January, about 1.49 foreigners visited Japan, 55.7 pct of the level four years before.

In February, the estimated number of Japanese nationals who went abroad totaled 537,700, equivalent to 35 pct of the level four years before.

The slow recovery in the number of outbound travelers reflected a weaker yen, soaring fuel prices and worries over COVID-19 infection, Japan Tourism Agency Commissioner Koichi Wada said at a press conference.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]