Kansai Airport Reports Big Drop In Foreign Visitors In 2011

Above, the Kinkaku-ji "Golden Pavilion" in Kyoto. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

Kansai International Airport reported a steep drop in foreign visitors in 2011 according to The Mainichi Daily News.

OSAKA (Kyodo) -- The number of foreign visitors to Japan through the Kansai International Airport in 2011 posted the steepest-ever fall of 22 percent to 2,734,196, due to the higher yen and the March 11 earthquake and tsunami that ravaged a wide area of northeastern Japan and triggered a nuclear crisis, Kansai International Airport Co. said in a preliminary report Monday.

The overall number of air passengers passing through the 24-hour airport on a man-made island in Osaka Bay during the year, including domestic travelers, fell 6 percent to 13,520,663, following a revised 7 percent increase in 2010, according to the airport operator.

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