In October, the number of overseas visitors rose 1.8% from a year earlier to 2,640,600, according to the Japan Tourism Agency. But this small lift in visitor numbers has yet to reach previous double-digit levels.
Tourism to Japan has rebounded slightly from a slow September, caused by a string of natural disasters, as it continues on track to eclipse the 30-million visitor record for the first time.
In October, the number of overseas visitors rose 1.8% from a year earlier to 2,640,600, according to the Japan Tourism Agency. But this small lift in visitor numbers has yet to reach previous double-digit levels.
China provided the largest number of visitors at 715,300 arrivals, an increase of 7.8%, followed by South Korea with 571,200 visitors, marking a 9.9% drop, and Hong Kong with 169,500, representing a dip of 0.9%.
The bump up in numbers has helped Japan stay on track to field a positive tourism year, with nearly 26.1 million visitors over the first 10 months this year, 9.7% more than last year.
If visitor arrivals for the year-end keep pace with those in previous years, the country looks to eclipse the 30-million record for the first time.
In September, tourism took a dive when a magnitude 6.7 earthquake struck Hokkaido, killing more than 40 and triggering an island-wide blackout. A typhoon in Osaka forced the temporary closure of Kansai International Airport, the main international gateway to the region.
Earlier in the year, a major earthquake hit Osaka, with torrential rains devastating wide areas of western Japan, killing about 230 people.