Fukushima Prefecture hosted 44.46 million tourists in 2012, up 26.3 percent from the previous year and 77.8 percent of the total in 2010, the year before the triple disaster — an earthquake, tsunami and reactor meltdowns — struck, the prefectural government said Monday.
Tourism "steadily recovered due to restoration of tourist facilities and declining misinformation about the nuclear plant (crisis)," a prefectural official said.
However, a survey showed that tourism in the region including the town of Futaba, which is home to the quake-disabled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant, was still down 74.1 percent from 2010.
The survey was conducted by the prefecture and municipalities at 374 events and tourist spots, nine more than the previous year.