The number of Hong Kong tourists heading to Japan jumped 41 per cent year on year last month - the biggest increase since Japan's nuclear crisis after last March's deadly earthquake and tsunami.
A total of 48,500 Hongkongers visited Japan in January, Japanese consul Yuji Kumamaru said yesterday. The significant rise can be attributed to the Lunar New Year holiday, which fell in January this year.
Hongkongers are showing their confidence in Japan by returning in greater numbers than those from neighbouring countries.
The number of visitors from South Korea was 35 per cent down year on year, although visits from the mainland and Taiwan, also influenced by the holiday, were up 40 per cent and 30 per cent, respectively.
'The southern and western parts of Japan have become more popular to Hong Kong people ... Okinawa should have seen an increase,' Kumamaru said.
Despite the positive figures for January, he acknowledges that Japan has a long way to go before it fully recovers from the tragedy. About 325,000 people whose homes were destroyed in the disaster have moved out of shelters but are still living in government-built temporary homes.