Tourists head west as Tohoku, Tokyo drop off itineraries

Western Japan, especially the Kyushu region where a new bullet-train line opened in March, has become a popular location for summer vacationers while the northeast and the Tokyo area have seen fewer tourists due to March 11.

While the number of overseas tourists to Japan has dipped markedly following the crisis at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant, travel agencies are vying for customers who are planning to vacation in western parts of the country.

According to travel agency JTB Corp., as of early August the number of buyers of its package tours to Kyushu for the July-September period rose 30 percent compared with a year earlier.

After the Kyushu Shinkansen Line began full service between Fukuoka and Kagoshima in March, Nippon Travel Agency Co.'s sales for Kyushu tours increased about 30 percent and those at KNT Co. jumped 20 percent.

But sales of package tours to the Tokyo metropolitan area decreased 10 to 30 percent at the travel agencies, with those to Tokyo Disneyland, the best-selling line to date, remaining sluggish.

Tours to the Tohoku region also remained unpopular, and sales fell about 40 percent.

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