Number of travellers to China from Japan’s Osaka airport down by half amid diplomatic spat
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The 48 per cent year-on-year drop in the number of people travelling from Kansai International Airport to China was recorded between Dec 26 and Jan 4.
PHOTO: KANSAI AIRPORTS/FACEBOOK
TOKYO – The number of travellers from a major airport in Osaka Prefecture, western Japan, to China during the New Year holiday season fell by nearly half from a year earlier to 55,170, immigration data showed on Jan 13, in a sign that worsening diplomatic ties have begun to impact travel.
The decline came after Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s remarks in November on Japan’s potential response to a Taiwan emergency angered China and prompted an immediate backlash. Beijing advised its citizens to avoid visiting Japan in response.
The 48 per cent year-on-year drop in the number of people travelling from Kansai International Airport to China was recorded between Dec 26 and Jan 4, according to preliminary data from the Kansai airport branch of the local immigration office in Osaka.
The total number of those entering and leaving Japan using the airport fell 2 per cent from a year earlier to 747,620. About 70 percent of them, or 515,430, were foreign nationals.
South Korea was the most popular destination with 127,990 travellers, followed by Taiwan with 59,970. China, which topped the list in 2025, fell to third place.
The operator of the airport, Kansai Airports, said the number of flights to and from China in December fell to 2,286, or about 60 per cent of what it was a year earlier. KYODO NEWS
