Japan sees 1.9 mln visitors in May, down from cherry blossom rush

Japan saw a slight decline in visitors in May from the prior month, when a rush of tourists came to see the nation's famous cherry blossoms without COVID-19 restrictions, official data showed on Wednesday.

The number of foreign visitors for business and leisure came in just below 1.9 million last month from a post-pandemic high of 1.95 million in April, the Japan National Tourism Organisation (JNTO) said.

Arrivals were down 31.5% from the level in May 2019, before the coronavirus outbreak.