Visitors to Japan Up 22.4 Pct in August

Tokyo, Sept. 17 (Jiji Press)--The number of visitors to Japan in August grew 22.4 pct from a year before to 1,109,600, marking a record high for the month, an estimate by the Japan National Tourism Organization showed Wednesday. The figure increased for the 19th straight month, reaching the third highest monthly total ever. The cumulative number of visitors in January-August came to 8,637,800, up 25.8 pct year on year. The running total for 2014 is expected to surpass 10 million in October. The growth reflected the yen's weakness as well as growing numbers of international flights using Tokyo International Airport at Haneda, the launch of chartered flights to local airports, and port calls by large passenger ships. By country or region, China topped the visitors' list for the second straight month, with 253,900 visitors, up 56.5 pct. South Korea came second with 251,400, up 16.7 pct, followed by Taiwan with 229,900, up 17.9 pct. The number of visitors from Thailand and the Philippines surged, by 23.3 pct and 71 pct, respectively. Tourism from European countries and Australia was also robust. But the number of visitors from Indonesia and Malaysia dropped 47.6 pct and 9.6 pct, respectively, as the holiday period after Ramadan fell in July this year instead of August. In September, visitor numbers are seen growing steadily, as the number of international flights is expected to increase, an official at the organization said. END