Closed Country: Japan’s Overseas Visitors Drop Below 3,000 in April

The Japan National Tourism Organization reported that overseas visitors to Japan in April 2020 fell by 99.9% from the previous year to 2,900. This is the first time for the number of monthly visitors to fall below 10,000 since statistics were first kept in 1964. The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic has led many countries to place restrictions on people’s movement and ban overseas travel, while Japan greatly expanded entry bans from April 3.

In April 2020, visitors from China numbered just 200, as compared to 726,000 in April 2019, a nearly 100% drop. The number of visitors from South Korea and Taiwan for the same month was just 300 each.

While in March, there were still some tourists from the United States and Europe visiting Japan, the flow dried up the following month. In April, there were just 300 tourists from the United States and fewer than 10 each from Germany, Italy, and Spain.

(Translated from Japanese. Banner photo: A deserted Shinkansen platform at JR Shin-Osaka Station. © Jiji.)