The government's goal of drawing 10 million foreign travelers a year is in sight following a report Wednesday that the monthly visitor count in July hit a record high of just over 1 million.

While a variety of efforts are being made both in the public and private sectors to attract tourists from abroad, particularly from Southeast Asia, some challenges remain in promoting foreign tourism, such as a lack of staff capable of speaking foreign languages at hotels and tourist spots.

The Japan National Tourist Organization, a government body, said foreign visitor numbers to Japan in July jumped 18.4 percent from a year earlier to an estimated 1,003,000, topping 1 million in a month for the first time.