Foreign visitors to Japan plunge 58% in Feb on coronavirus

FILE PHOTO: A man, wearing protective mask following an outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), walks on an almost empty street in Yokohama's Chinatown, south of Tokyo, Japan March 10, 2020. REUTERS/Edgard Garrido

TOKYO: The number of foreign visitors to Japan plunged 58% in February from a year earlier, government data showed on Thursday, as the coronavirus pandemic takes a heavy toll of the tourism industry.

Total foreign arrivals, including those for tourism and business, declined to 1.09 million from 2.60 million in the corresponding month last year, the Japan National Tourism Organization said. It was the fifth straight month of declines.