Chinese tourists to Japan, who were once required to travel in groups, will soon be able to visit on their own as Japan begins handing individual visas to Chinese citizens this summer.

But the relaxation in visa policy only targets people in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou who earn at least 250,000 yuan ($36,600) a year, Shanghai-based Xinmin Evening News reported yesterday.

But tour agencies were less optimistic.

Dong Xiang, manager of Japan tours with China Travel International Ltd, said Japan relaxed the visa policy last year by giving visas to families with more than two people.

Previously, Chinese tourists had to travel in tour groups of more than five people.

But by the end of 2008, only 10 people from four families had applied for such visas to Japan, he said.

"The problem is that Japan demands each of these Chinese families be accompanied by a Chinese tour leader and a Japanese tour guide. This adds to the tourists' cost and causes trouble for tour agencies, too," he said.

"If the new visa policy does not solve this problem, it will make no difference to us," he said.

Xinmin Evening News also quoted a Shanghai tour agency manager as saying that there are only a few people with an annual income of more than 250,000 yuan.

Guo Chunling, a manager with the Beijing office of Japan National Tourism Organization, said that the implementation date and the condition on applicants' income have not been decided.

"We can only say we have confidence that the Japanese government will start granting individual visas to Chinese tourists this summer," she said.

Japanese media reported that 580,800 foreign tourists visited Japan in January, 18.4 percent less than the same period last year.

But tourists from the Chinese mainland bucked the trend by increasing 31.4 percent to 110,400 in January.

The number of visits from other major source markets for Japan has mostly slumped, including Japan's biggest tourist market, South Korea, which decreased by half to 129,600 people in January.