“Aso-Kuju National Park, which had struggled to boost visitor numbers in 2016 due to the Kumamoto earthquake and the eruption of Mount Aso that occurred the same year, experienced a 37.2 percent increase. ‘The disasters had a huge negative impact on local tourism businesses around the park,’ said Aso-Kuju Park administrator Yuji Morita. ‘In fact, the number of Japanese tourists is still below the level before the Kumamoto disasters,’ Morita added. ‘However, we have seen many returning foreign tourists from South Korea and other Southeast Asian nations who love exploring the mountainside hot spring spas.’”