Kyoto

Tourism Lagging in Japan So Pack Your Bags and Go!

The Japanese National Tourism Organization announced that the number of foreign visitors to Japan are down. Just a year ago in 2008 the number of visitors to Japan was at a record high of 8.35 million and now the number has fallen by 18.7 percent to 6.79 million. It is the biggest drop in the rate of tourism the country has seen in forty years.

The decline is being attributed to the global economic downturn, a strong yen which makes travel to Japan expensive and fears over the swine flu. Interestingly the country's largest tourism markets are South Korea, Taiwan and China. Japan had been enjoying an increase of visitors for decades. In 1989 there were 2.84 million tourists and a decade later in 1999 the number had almost doubled to 4.44 million visitors.

Some of the biggest hassles one encounters when traveling revolve around other tourists. The best news for people who are interested in going abroad to a country whose tourism numbers are down is that they are likely to experience less crowded conditions at major attractions and even promotional deals from hotels with unexpected seasonal vacancies.

Tags: Japan, Kyoto, ryokan, tourism, travel

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SM Novella Citt� Di Kyoto

by Nicole Weston (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Cosmetics and Fragrance

Cittá Di Kyoto is a perfume made by SM Novella, one of the oldest pharmacies in the world, that blends Italian and Japanese scents and sensibilities. It was released to commemorate the 40th anniversary (in 2005) of the twining of Florence and Kyoto, which are considered to be sister cities. The fragrance is very complex, with a floral head of jasmine, hawthorne and ylang-ylang, followed by fruit and iris notes, and closed with a musky, woodsy undertone, which lingers on the skin. The goal of the scent is to be sweet and sensual, and everyday perfume for some and an elegant evening fragrance for others. Price: $85/100mL.