TOKYO – A total of 27,200 visitors from the Philippines entered Japan in the first half of the year, a drop of 90.8 percent compared to the same period in the pre-pandemic year of 2019, according to a preliminary data released by the Japan National Tourism Organization (JNTO) on July 20.
The data also showed that Japan had welcomed 295,120 visitors from the Southeast Asian country in the January-June 2019 period.
In June, the Philippines placed sixth in Japan’s market for visitor arrivals with 5,900, down 87.4 percent from three years earlier. Vietnam topped the list with 22,900 arrivals, followed by China (14,700), South Korea (11,200), United States (9,700) and Indonesia 7,000, the data revealed.
Visitor arrivals include travelers entering Japan for transit, expatriates and their families, and international students, the JNTO said.
Japan accepts tour groups from the Philippines, which is classified under the lowest-risk “blue” category, allowing travelers to enter the country without quarantine and testing upon arrival at the airport if they present a negative pre-departure COVID-19 test. - Florenda Corpuz
