TOKYO, Dec 18 Reuters Japan set a new annual record for visitor arrivals with one month to spare, official data showed on Wednesday, as the weak yen helped propel the nation39;s tourism boom.

November saw 3.19 million foreign visitors for business and leisure, data from the Japan National Tourism Organization JNTO showed, bringing the total for 2024 so far to 33.4 million.

That eclipsed the previous annual record of 31.9 million set in 2019 before the COVID19 pandemic shut global borders.

Last month39;s arrivals edged down from 3.31 million visitors in October, the most for any month on record.

Reporting by Rocky Swift Editing by Shri Navaratnam

Source Reuters