Hangzhou opens more direct flights to Japan

With the outbound tourism market on the rise following Spring Festival, the city of Hangzhou in Zhejiang province has opened more flights to Japan. A total of six more direct flights will travel to and from Japan every week.

Nippon Airways currently operates two flights a day from Hangzhou, with approximately 120 seats per flight. As the flights are mostly frequented by business guests, ticket prices are high.

However, Beijing Capital Airlines and China Eastern Airlines have now launched six chartered flights between the two cities, specifically for tour groups, to help reduce costs for passengers and meet travel demand.

The increase in direct flights has brought down the cost of air fare for tickets between Hangzhou and Japan.

At the end of 2014, Beijing Capital Airlines opened two weekly chartered flights from Hangzhou to Okinawa. In February 2015, the airline opened two flights from Hangzhou to Osaka and two to Shizuoka; all flights have a capacity of 165 people.

In February 2015, Beijing Capital Airlines opened two chartered flights every week from Hangzhou to Osaka of Japan and two chartered flights every week from Hangzhou to Shizuoka of Japan. Every flight has 165 seats.

During Spring Festival, China Eastern Airlines opened six temporary chartered flights from Hangzhou to Hakodate, with 156 seats per flight.

Flights from Hangzhou to Okinawa, Osaka and Shizuoka are expected to be fixed routes, according to Beijing Capital Airlines. China Eastern Airlines and Air China are both applying to open more flights from Hangzhou to Japan.

Zhu Xiaojun, vice president of the outbound center of Zhejiang Cyts International Travel Co, said that the devaluation of the yen has led to more tourists travelling to Japan and that the Japanese tourism boom would last until the end of Sakura Festival in May. There are more than 1000 Chinese tourists from Hangzhou travelling to Japan each month.

Japanese temporary visitor stickers for Chinese tour groups

The Consulate-General of Japan in Shanghai has announced that due to the increasing number of Chinese tourists to Japan, temporary visitor stickers will be issued to Chinese tour groups from March 11. The visitor stickers issued before March 11 are valid for use.

China has seen an increasing number of tourists applying for visas to Japan this year and the Consulate-General of Japan's visitor stickers have been used up, according to a manager of Zhejiang China International Travel Service Co.

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