中国観光客増加８成…「日本近便有魅力」

A few weeks ago the Yomiuri News on-line reported the following:

中国人観光客、８割増…「日本は近くて魅力的」

2014年11月20日 07時46分

　２０１４年に日本を訪れた外国人旅行者が１０月までで１１００万人を突破したのは、円安で日本旅行の魅力が高まっていることが大きい。

　中国人観光客が前年同期の８割増になり、東南アジア諸国からの集客も順調だ。今年４月の消費増税後、苦戦が続く小売業界などでは外国人旅行客の存在感が高まっている。

　免税店のラオックス秋葉原本店（東京）では、１～９月の売上高は前年の２倍以上になった。１０月から免税品目に加わった食品や化粧品などの売れ行きも好調だ。健康食品などを買い込んだ中国浙江省の病院職員・顔広生さん（５０）は「日本は近くて魅力的。品質が高いので買い物も楽しい」と話す。今月、日中首脳会談が約３年ぶりに実現し、日中関係が改善すればさらに増加が見込めそうだ。

　日本百貨店協会が発表した全国４６百貨店の１０月の免税販売額は、前年同月の約２・２倍の８６億７０００万円に。「免税対象の拡大で関心が高まった」（三越伊勢丹の石塚邦雄会長）という。

　昨年７月に訪日客の観光ビザ（査証）が免除されたタイとマレーシアからの旅行者も好調だ。関西国際空港は、上半期（４～９月）の国際線の外国人旅客数が前年同期比３１％増の３２１万人とこれまでで最高となり、半期ベースで初めて日本人旅客数を上回った。格安航空会社（ＬＣＣ）の乗り入れが増え、「アジア諸国の旺盛な需要を取り込むことができた」（新関西国際空港会社）とみている。

(試譯文)

The foreign travelers who visited Japan up to October 2014 broke through 11 million people; the big charm of traveling in Japan was rising due to a fall in the yen.

  Chinese tourist had a 80% increase compared to the corresponding period last year, and the attraction on customers from the Southeast Asian nations was also favorable. The growing present of foreigner tourists was felt by the retail industry that had a hard time following the consumption tax increase in April this year.

  Duty-free shop LaOX’s Akihabara’s main store (Tokyo) had its net sales for January-September two times more than last year. The sale of food and cosmetics, which were added into the tax exemption list since October, was also favorable. A hospital staff from China’s Zhejiang province Mr. Yan Guangsheng (50) who bought healthy food said "Japan is near and attractive. Because of the high quality, shopping is fun". while a Sino-Japanese summit was realized this month (November) after about three years, it seemed that when Japan-China relations were improved, further increases could be expected.

  The Japanese Department Store Society announced that duty-free sale value in October in 46 department stores of the whole country was about 2.2 times of the same month a year ago at 8,670 million yen. (Mitsukoshi Isetan’s chairperson Kunio Ishizuka) said "my interest in the expansion of the duty-free items had increased".

 Travelers from Thailand and Malaysia where tourist-visa (visa) for visitors to Japan was exempted since July last year was also favorable. The number of foreigner travelers in international flights for the first half year (April -September) was 3,210,000 people, being 31 % more compared with the corresponding period a year earlier, and became the best number on a half-term base so far; and for the first time to exceed Japanese travelers. (The new Kansai International Airport) saw that the increased service by cheap airline companies (LCC) "was able to handle the strong demand in Asian countries".

Obviously, the cheap yen has helped Japan’s tourism.