Photo/Illutration Check-in counters are mostly closed at Narita Airport in Chiba Prefecture on April 29. (Asahi Shimbun file photo)

The number of foreign visitors to Japan plummeted 99.9 percent to 2,900 from a year earlier in April due to tighter border controls amid the new coronavirus outbreak, the Japan Tourism Agency (JTA) announced on May 20. 

The figure surpassed the 93 percent drop marked in March, recording the largest plunge since January 1964 when comparable data became available. 

The number of foreign visitors decreased for the seventh consecutive month through April. It was the first time on record the number fell below 10,000.

Visitors from China, which accounted for the largest figure by country last year, totaled around 200, while travelers from South Korea, Taiwan and the United States stood at around 300 each. 

The Japanese government has been expanding the list of countries subject to entry restrictions since February. Traveling has become extremely difficult globally as people around the world are increasingly urged to stay home and many countries are asking visitors to self-quarantine on arrival.

The number of departing Japanese nationals also plunged 99.8 percent to 3,900 from a year earlier in April. The drop was larger than the 85.9 percent in March.

"It’s difficult to offer an outlook," Hiroshi Tabata, the JTA commissioner, said on May 20 about when he expected foreign visitor numbers to recover.

Tabata said that the agency is aiming to launch a “Go To Travel Campaign,” in July at the earliest, in which the government will subsidize domestic travel in Japan, if the coronavirus outbreak is brought under control.