New visa rules give China`s middle class freer ways to travel Japan

BEIJING, July 1 Kyodo -
Japan eased conditions Thursday for granting visas to individual Chinese
tourists, giving China's growing middle class more diverse chances to travel to
the neighboring country.
Japan hopes the measure will significantly increase Chinese visitors who have
rising purchasing power and to help boost domestic demand, especially as
Japan's population ages.
Given China's robust economic growth and a gradual rise in the yuan, Chinese
nationals are experiencing a boom in overseas trips and Japan is one of the
most popular travel destinations, along with South Korea, Singapore and
Malaysia, and most recently Europe due to a weak euro.
Since Japan began granting an individual tourism visa to Chinese nationals in
July last year, it issued the visa to Chinese nationals who make 250,000 yuan
(about 3.5 million yen) a year or more.
But starting Thursday, Japan eased the conditions so that ''Chinese
middle-class families with certain income level and employment status can also
make individual trips to Japan'' without joining group tours, said Takahisa
Kashiwagi, executive director at the Beijing office of the Japan National
Tourism Organization.
The Japanese government does not make public the criteria for granting visas to
Chinese tourists.
Including individual tourists, the number of Chinese visitors to Japan rose 36
percent in the first five months of this year from the same period last year to
about 600,000.
Kashiwagi forecasts a 2010 tally will total an all-time high of about 1.3
million from a record 1.01 million in 2009.
JNTO data show that Chinese tourists spend 230,000 yen on average per trip to
Japan, half of that for souvenirs such as cosmetics, pharmaceutical products,
clothes, brand bags, watches, electric products and cigarettes, a trend
favorable to stimulating consumption in Japan.
To cope with an expected increase in the number of visa applications, Japan
began accepting applications Thursday at all seven Japanese diplomatic
establishments in mainland China, up from three.
Similarly, Japan expanded the number of Chinese travel agencies eligible to
apply for visas on customers' behalf to 290 from 48.
''With increased service, we hope people in inland China will find it easier to
travel to Japan, along with those in coastal areas,'' Kashiwagi said.
China's travel industry says the number of Chinese tourists to Japan -- both
individual and group trips -- is likely to grow, but it will be difficult to
sharply expand the number without increasing existing flights and launching new
direct flight routes between the two countries.
''From Beijing, for example, we have direct flights only to Tokyo, Osaka,
Nagoya and Sapporo. We have no direct flights to Kyushu and Tohoku, which make
it difficult for the Chinese to travel to such areas,'' said Zhou Jing,
director of the Japanese Division at China International Travel Service Ltd. in
Beijing., a major Chinese travel agency.
Zhou said that although Tokyo is the most popular destination for Chinese
tourists, people who have traveled to Japan several times, so-called
''repeaters,'' are eager to visit places such as Hokkaido, Kyushu and Sendai
where they can experience rich nature and traditional Japanese culture.
''We would like to offer new products,'' she said. ''But to broaden product
lineups, we need to see an increase in the number of direct flights to Hokkaido
-- which is now a boom in China -- and the launch of direct flights to other
regions. I would also like to say the number of flights to Osaka is very
small.''
Zhou also asked Japan to shorten the period of visa issuance from the current
five business days, compared with three business days for South Korea.
Luring Chinese tourists is part of Japan's efforts to meet the goal of
increasing the number of foreign visitors to 15 million in 2013, 20 million in
2016 and 25 million in 2019 before hitting 30 million in the future from 8.35
million in 2008.
==Kyodo