The number of Vietnamese visitors to Japan continued to soar in June, and the first half of the year overall.

There were about 13,000 visits by Vietnamese tourists to Japan in June, an increase of 52.7 percent compared to the same period last year, according to the Japan National Tourism Organization (JNTO) Vietnam.

Vietnam is among the 10 countries and territories whose tourists visit Japan most often. In 2014, there were 124,266 visits from the Southeast Asian country to Japan, JNTO Vietnam said.

The total number of Vietnamese arrivals to Japan reached 94,300 in the first six months, surging 59.3 percent compared to the same period of 2014.

According to tourism firms, the main reason drawing more tourists from Vietnam to Japan is a decrease in tour prices, in which a six day and five night tour to the East Asian country only costs VND30 million (US$1,374) to VND35 million ($1,603), not to mention that visa requirements were also relaxed starting from January 2014.

An anonymous representative from JNTO Vietnam said that many Japanese prefectures, including Kanagawa, Niigata, Gifu, and Ibaraki, have actively found more opportunities to cooperate with Vietnamese tourism firms and airlines in the hope of bringing more tourists to their region.

Speaking with Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper, Yoshibumi Nesaki, a representative of Ibaraki Prefecture, said that the region will enact more policies to encourage airlines to open routes from the Ibaraki international airport to Vietnam and vice versa, following other tourism programs in Japan.

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