Japan eyes tripling foreign visitors to disaster-hit Tohoku in 2020
TOKYO. KAZINFORM Japan aims to triple the number of foreign visitors to the Tohoku region to 1.5 million in 2020 from the 2015 level as part of efforts to promote reconstruction of the disaster-hit area, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said Thursday.
Speaking at a news conference on the eve of the fifth anniversary of the March 11, 2011 earthquake and tsunami, which triggered the Fukushima nuclear crisis, Abe cited the 2019 Rugby World Cup, part of which will be held in Tohoku, and the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics as a driving force in boosting the number of foreign tourists to the region.
Abe said the number of foreign tourists in Japan totaled about 20 million last year, more than double the level before he returned to the premiership in December 2012, but that six prefectures in the Tohoku region only recovered to the pre-disaster level of 500,000 foreign tourists in the same year.
Source: Kyodo News