WUHAN, May 15 -- China Southern Airlines on Friday launched a direct flight to Shizuoka of Japan from the central Chinese city of Wuhan amid its efforts to meet rising air travel demand to its neighbor.

The country's largest airline will open another route to Nagoya, Japan, from Wuhan on Sunday. Wuhan will have four direct air service to Japan.

The air carrier offers three round trips per week between Wuhan and Shizuoka and four round trips per week between Wuhan and Nagoya.

The sharp depreciation of Japanese yen has made Japan a hot tourist destination for Chinese.

In 2014, Japan received 2.4 million Chinese tourists, up 83 percent from the previous year, data showed. This made China the third largest source of tourists to Japan.

Liu Zubin, deputy president of the Hubei subsidiary of China Southern Airlines, predicted robust growth in tourist numbers to Japan in the coming years.