Sightseers wasted no time in flocking to the ancient Japanese city of Kyoto on the first weekend of the government's latest domestic travel discount campaign.

On Saturday, tourists and students on school trips packed the shop- and restaurant-lined slope that leads to Kiyomizu Temple, a UNESCO World Heritage site.

Many visited a rental kimono shop to dress up for photos and stroll in costume around the area.

A woman in her 20s from Osaka said she wanted to get in touch with traditional Japanese culture by wearing a kimono. She said she will stay overnight and is looking forward to tasting local sweets.

The rental shop said for more than two years during the pandemic were virtually no foreign tourists and fewer domestic travelers. But now it said the number of domestic travelers is gradually increasing and foreign tourists are beginning to return since the lifting of pandemic border restrictions.

Among the shop's customers was a family from Hong Kong.

The shop said it has around 100 reservations each day of the weekend.

A managing director of the shop, Okamoto Kazuki, said some of the customers are using the government's travel subsidy program. He expressed hope that the area will soon be as busy as it was in pre-pandemic days.