A major Japanese travel agency has estimated that the number of overseas trips from Japan will climb this year from last year. But it expects the figure to remain less than half the level seen in the year immediately before the global spread of the coronavirus.

JTB calculated travel demand for 2023 based on questionnaires to consumers, government statistics and other data.

The company says 8.4 million foreign trips will be made from Japan this year. That's almost three times last year's figure, but still only around 40 percent of the 2019 level.

Asked what factors will encourage travel abroad, 27.1 percent of the respondents cited a rise in the value of the yen against other currencies.

This indicates that demand for overseas journeys has not recovered well because the cheaper yen has been inflating travel costs abroad.

JTB says the number of foreign visitors to Japan will grow to 21.1 million this year, up 5.5 times from last year's figure. That's roughly 66 percent of the 2019 level.

The firm predicts that the number of tourists from China will start to increase from July.

Chinese sightseers accounted for 30 percent of overall foreign tourists to Japan before the pandemic.