On July 17, an official from Tourism Administration of Kunming revealed that the number of Japanese tourists visiting the city between May and June has increased by more than 50 percent compared with the same period last year.

In May this year, Kunming welcomed 6,468 Japanese visitors, an increase of more than 200 percent from April, and more than 70 percent from last May. Figures continued to grow in June, increasing by 52 percent compared with last June.

The healthy growth is significant, this being the Year of Sino-Japanese Tourism Exchange, which was officially opened in Japan earlier this year.

Japan has traditionally been one of China's largest sources of tourists.

However, numbers had started to dwindle from the second half of 2005, gradually shrinking from more than 8,000 a month to just 2,000 in January. This caused Japan's market share in Kunming to drop from the top to fourth position behind South Korea, Malaysia and Thailand.

In support of the China-Japan tourism year, a Sino-Japanese Cultural Tourism Seminar was held in Kunming on May 13. The seminar was organized by the National Tourism Bureau, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport of Japan, and the Yunnan provincial government. More than 140 people, including representatives from Japanese travel agencies and media, attended the event.

The media and business reports helped to promote Yunnan as a tourist destination of choice in Japan, and its popularity skyrocketed as a result.

But much still needs to be done to rein in the tourists. Industry experts said that the cancellation of direct flights from Japan to Kunming is a major reason for falling visitor numbers. Without these flights, Yunnan is less attractive to Japanese tourists in terms of access, price and transport schedules.

In addition, many Japanese tourists reportedly have difficulty stomaching the spicy Yunnan diet.

Wu Lianfeng, deputy general manager of China International Travel Service Kunming, said that the Japanese tourism market was opened to China in July last year. This has enabled people from Yunnan to travel freely to Japan.

What the industry needs now to capitalize on the situation is a tourism reciprocity law, which would helped to guarantee occupancy rates on flights. Industry leaders from both countries are reportedly working on this and trying to resume direct flights as soon as possible. 

 "Of course, this change will depend on the further development of Sino-Japanese relations," Wu said.

(China.org.cn by Li Xiaohua July 19, 2006)