Chinese tourists with shopping bags wait for a sightseeing bus in front of a discount electronics store in Tokyo's Ginza district. The cheap yen, easier visas and other initiatives are luring foreign travelers eager to stretch their budgets, bringing in welcome cash. (Photo/China Daily)
Japan is expected to be the most popular destination for Chinese tourists taking a summer vacation abroad because of the new visa policy, currency exchange rates and the outbreak of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome in South Korea.
Ctrip.com reported that 10,000 tours to Japan have been booked in June, a 100 percent year-on-year rise.
"Chinese tourists will rush to Japan this summer," said Tuniu.com, another Chinese online travel agency based in Nanjing, capital city of Jiangsu province.
The recent MERS epidemic in South Korea has seen Chinese people switch their vacation plans.
"Japan will be the biggest beneficiary from the epidemic," said a manager from a local travel agency, who declined to be identified.
Some cruises, which originally planned to stop at ports in South Korea, have switched to Japanese ports, he said.
Wang Yuanyuan, a 31-year-old Beijing housewife, said she will take her summer vacation in Japan, although she had originally planned to visit South Korea.
"I will take my son on the trip and do not want a shadow hanging over our vacation," she said.
Currency exchange rates also favor visits to Japan as the yen slumps in value against the yuan.
"The fall in value of the yen makes Japan a good destination for Chinese tourists to shop," said Liu Qing of Tongcheng Network Technology Co Ltd, an online travel agency based in Suzhou, Jiangsu province.
"And shopping is one of the main reasons Chinese people visit Japan during the summer."
This year, Japan has also made it easier for Chinese residents to visit by offering five-year multiple entry visas.
More than 100,000 Chinese travelers visited Japan with Ctrip in 2014 and the agency expects a 100 percent increase this year, said Dai Yu, marketing director.
July and August are traditionally the peak summer vacation months and account for 35 percent of the total trips made abroad during the year, said Jiang Yiyi, director of international tourism development at the China Tourism Academy.
The number of Chinese outbound travelers broke 100 million for the first time in 2014, according to the China Tourism Academy, and the total is expected to reach 135 million this year, representing a 16.8 percent year-on-year growth.
"The rise in summer vacation travelers is expected to follow the annual trend and may even be slightly higher," Jiang said.
