BEIJING - Japan will shorten its group visa approval process for Chinese travelers effective from July 1 in order to stimulate slumping tourism in the wake of the 9.0-magnitude earthquake, tsunami and ensuing nuclear crisis that hit the country in March this year.

Also from July 1, Chinese tourists will be able to visit Japan's southernmost prefecture of Okinawa on multiple-entry visas.

Uichiro Niwa, the Japanese Ambassador to China, said that it is quite safe for Chinese tourists to travel in Japan. He made the comment while attending a promotional activity for Japanese tourism held in Beijing in mid-June.

According to the Japan Tourism Agency, the number of foreign visitors to Japan plunged during the month of May, falling to 358,000, or roughly half the number of tourists that the country received during the same period last year.

Authorities make efforts to boost tourism

China's National Tourism Administration (NTA) and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a notice on April 29 in which they lifted their Japan travel alert.

The notice said that public order and safety had been restored in all areas in Japan other than the hard-hit prefecture of Fukushima. The notice also said that travellers should make sure to take heed of alerts and statements issued by Japan's travel authorities.

A traveller surnamed Chen said that she will not choose to travel to Japan, since the pollution from the damaged Fukushima nuclear power plant will probably not be cleaned up quickly, according to an article published in the Beijing Youth Daily newspaper.

Fortunately, Japanese post-quake tourism recovery has been getting support from Chinese government departments, tourism authorities, travel agencies and airline companies.

Shao Qiwei, chief of China's National Tourism Administration, said at a Sino-Japan tourism seminar held in Japan in early June that China would implement five specific measures to help prop up Japan's struggling tourism industry.

The measures include restarting group tours to Japan, opening Shanghai-Kagawa charter flights and restarting Shanghai-Ibaraki charter flights, establishing a Sino-Japanese joint venture travel agency in China, inviting 100 children from Japan's quake zone to South China's Hainan province for a short vacation and welcoming Japanese delegations to promote their tour routes and products.

Shao also asked Japan to ensure that the information it releases regarding safety and security in post-quake Japan is "timely and real" in order to inspire the confidence of Chinese travellers.