According to the Japan National Tourism Organisation, the number of foreign tourists to Japan experienced more then 23% decline to 633,000 in July 2009, the ninth consecutive double-digit year-on-year decline.
The sharp decrease in the number of foreign tourists was attributed mainly to the global economic slowdown, appreciation of the Japanese yen and spread of Influenza A(H1N1).
The number of tourists from Singapore dropped 34.6%, followed by China and South Korea which witnessed a drop of 32.8% and 28.4%, respectively.
In addition, 1,289,000 Japanese travelled aboard in July 2009, a 3.2% year-on-year decline for the third year.
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