According to the the Fukuoka Prefecture Rental Car Association, the number of foreign visitors who rented cars from shops near Fukuoka Airport in 2014 jumped 2.5 times year-on-year. The Association says the increase in rentals is due not only to the sheer increase in tourist numbers due to the weak yen, but also to a public-private PR campaign to encourage visitors to take rent-a-car trips. In 2013, 687,020 tourists entered Japan via Fukuoka Airport, and the number of car rentals by foreign visitors was 2,655. Those figures both increased sharply in 2014 to 854,143 and 6,725, respectively. Source: Nishinippon Shimbun 8/31
Four foreign students used a rental car to see how many of Itoshima’s main attractions they could visit in 12 hours; read about their adventure here.
