According to the Okinawa Prefectural Department of Culture, Tourism and Sports, the number of visitors to Okinawa between January and December 2015 reached a new record.

The number of tourists to Okinawa increased by 704,700 people, or 10 %, from the previous year to a total of 7,763,000, which is a new record for the third year in a row.

Especially, the number of tourists from overseas saw a sharp increase of 607,700, or 68 %, to 1,501,200, while the number of domestic tourists increased by a more modest 97,000 or 1.6 %.

As for the reason for the increase, the department cited the several new routes that LCC carriers started between overseas locations and Naha, especially from Taiwan and Korea, and added flights by established carriers. As for other reasons, officials cited cheaper yen, the overall increase of demand in overseas markets for visits to Japan and an increase in the number of cruise ship port calls.

The number of visitors from China increased by 2.6 times from the previous year, while tourists from Korea were 1.9 times more than in 2014.

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