The Japanese government issued 268,000 visas to Chinese visitors in March, 2.5 times more than last March. Chinese arrivals to Japan for the first quarter of this year, at 690,000,almost level with the total Chinese arrivals for the full year of 2014.
The Japanese consulate in Shanghai issued 146,000 visas in March alone, an all-time monthly record and a two-fold jump compared with March last year, according to a report by Sankei Shinbun.
A manager of Tokyo Ueno Tourism Association said that Ueno Park receives around 2 million visitors every year during the sakura cherry blossom season. “Foreign visitors made up 40% of total visitor number last year, and ‘Chinese and other nationalities’ made up 50% of total visitors this year,”he said.
Hotels in the Ueno district registered room occupancy above 90% on average.Japanese business hotel chain Dormy Inn has reported that the number of foreign guests has grown 4% y-o-y in the group’s five hotels in the Tokyo metropolitan area and they are full almost daily the last few days. This surge in business has inflated prices of Japanese hotels.
One business hotel operator has tripled the daily room rate of its downtown Tokyo hotels to 30,000 yen (about 1,553 yuan) and still receives plenty of bookings by overseas visitors. (Translation by David)
