The Immigration Bureau of Japan’s Fukuoka branch has announced that over 5,529,089 foreigners visited Kyushu and Okinawa in 2016, a 33% increase over the previous year. A quarter of those came from cruise ship landings which have increased to around 1,840,000, which is 90% of the total cruise ship visitors from around the whole of Japan. The majority of people were from nearby Asian countries with the most visitors coming from Korea at around 1,810,000. Second place was Taiwan with 710,000, followed by China with 440,000, and Hong Kong coming in last with 370,000 visitors (all numbers exclude cruise ship landings). The busiest point of entry was Fukuoka Airport with 1,630,000, followed by Naha Airport with 1,350,000, Hakata Port with 940,000, ending with Nagasaki Port with 450,000. Source: Sankei News, 3/2
(Ed note: These statistics are based on counting at point of entry. Tourists arriving from other parts of the world that do not have direct flights or ships are therefore not counted.)
Photo: Photo provided by the City of Fukuoka
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