Amid the ongoing diplomatic tensions between China and Japan, the number of Chinese tourists visiting Japan has notably dropped.
Many well-off Chinese have started making their plans of traveling in connection with the Spring Festival holiday, but the interest of Chinese tourists to visit Japan has waned. There is also a noticeable decline in the 2013 figures as compared to the preceding year.
On average, the volume of Chinese global travels had significantly improved for the past few years. By comparison, the number of Chinese tourists visiting Japan has obviously declined last year. According to Jiang Yiyi, the director of the China Tourism Academy's international tourism development institute, the statistical data show remarkable decline.
Back in 2012, Chinese tourists made almost two million visits to Japan. This was equivalent to a 20 percent increase as compared to the figures for the year 2011. In comparison, the 2013 figures only showed 1.7 million Chinese visitors to Japan for the same period from January up to the end of November. This can be verified based on the statistics published by the China National Tourism Administration.
Virtually all factors are favorable for Chinese tourism in Japan but the current diplomatic tensions between the two countries are hindering its further growth. For the past years, the Chinese currency, the yuan, has been steadily appreciating against the Japanese yen. Meanwhile, the Japanese tourism and foreign affairs authorities have been loosening visa restrictions since 2009. They also have been promoting sightseeing tours specifically for tourists from China.
The main factor that is now hampering the growth of Chinese tourism in Japan is the bellicose rhetoric and actions of top Japanese officials. These include the recent visit of the Japanese prime minister to a shrine that is dedicated to Japanese war criminals. It is an issue of political PR.