Local News

The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, and Transport released its report on the number of visitors to Kyushu’s seven prefectures renting rooms during their visit in 2009. The overall total was 30.72 million people, a 5.2% decline from the previous year, less than the nationwide decline of 5.4%. In contrast, however, the number of overseas visitors renting rooms fell to 1.07 million people, a 42.2% drop, well above the 20.2% nationwide decline. The Kyushu District Transport Bureau said this was due to the falloff in the number of South Korean tourists, which account for 40% of Kyushu’s overseas visitors. The factors cited for this decline were the poor economy and concerns of the influenza virus.