The number of foreign visitor to Japan slumped at the fastest rate in nearly four decades due to the global economic downturn, a strong yen which makes travel to Japan expensive and fears over the swine flu, according to new data released by the Japanese National Tourism Organisation. Japan had been enjoying an increase of visitors for decades. In 1989 there were 2.84 million tourists and a decade later in 1999 the number had almost doubled to 4.44 million visitors. Just a year ago in 2008 the number of visitors to Japan was at a record high of 8.35 million and now the number has fallen by 18.7 percent to 6.79 million. Japan is the biggest drop in the rate of tourism the country has seen in forty years.
Some of the biggest hassles one encounters when traveling revolve around other tourists. Interestingly the country's largest tourism markets are China rose 0.6 percent to a record one million and South Korea market plummeted 33.4 percent to 1.59 million. The best news for people who are interested in going abroad to a country whose tourism numbers are down is that they are likely to experience less crowded conditions at major attractions and even promotional deals from hotels with unexpected seasonal vacancies.
