Japan faces huge tourism losses

Japan’s tourism industry will suffer losses running into the hundreds of millions when its two biggest airlines cancel flights from China.

Japan Airlines (JAL) and All Nippon Airways announced they were slashing the number of flights to and from China because of a slump in demand following the deadly coronavirus outbreak from Wuhan.

Smaller airlines like Jetstar Japan and Spring Airlines Japan are cancelling services too.

Jetstar Japan halted flights connecting Narita with Shanghai from yesterday.

The flight cancellations will have a chain reaction on Japanese hotels, travel and tour, shopping malls, food and beverage industries, with an estimated 400,000 Chinese visitors cancelling trips to Japan until next month.

JAL will suspend services connecting Tokyo’s Narita International Airport with Beijing and Shanghai, and flights between Chubu Airport in central Japan and Shanghai.

The suspensions will start on Feb 17 and are slated to run until March 28.

ANA will also pull out of its Narita-Beijing route from Feb 10 until late next month.

It will halve the number of flights between Tokyo’s Haneda Airport and Beijing, after already suspending its route connecting Narita with Wuhan.

“The virus has not only put a damper on businesses in China but has also become ‘contagious’ by affecting neighbouring countries.

“It certainly is a very bad start to the Chinese lunar year of the rat,” said a tourism industry official, who declined to be named.

Duty-free goods sales fell 15 per cent over seven days from Jan 24 compared with the same period last year.

Jiji Press reported that Japan's

The virus has not only put a damper on businesses in China but has also become ‘contagious’ by affecting neighbouring countries. Tourism industry official

largest department stores, Takashimaya Co, Sogo and Seibu Co, Isetan Mitsukoshi Holdings Ltd and J. Front Retailing Co are incurring a drop in sales from five to 15 per cent.

The Japan Association of Travel Agents said 1.4 million Chinese visited Japan in February and March last year.

Thailand’s Bangkok Times reported that Japan was one of China’s most popular tourist destinations, accounting for 8.38 million Chinese visiting last year, up 13.9 per cent year on year.

Chinese visitors spent more than 1.5 trillion yen in 2018, accounting for nearly 34 per cent of spending by foreign visitors, according to Japanese government data.

While many visit Japan for its bustling cities or historic temples, a substantial number are also booking medical check-ups, or looking for property and new business opportunities.

Middle-class Chinese families were also looking to buy flats ranging from 80 million to 150 million yen, the report said, while listed companies and private entrepreneurs were looking to invest in hospitals, hot springs and golf courses.

Chinese tourists to Japan hit new highs as anti-government protests scared mainland visitors away from Hong Kong, and restrictions limited tour groups and independent travel in Taiwan,

China and Japan, the world’s second and third largest economies, have long had uneasy bilateral ties.

Many Chinese believe Japan has not adequately acknowledged the extent of its brutal World War 2 occupation of the country, while China’s growing assertiveness, including claims to disputed islands in the East China Sea, has ratcheted up territorial tensions.

Meanwhile, 3,500 people on board the Diamond Princess cruise ship were quarantined off Daikoku Pier near Yokohama Port.

This followed reports that an 80-year-old passenger, who disembarked in Hong Kong on Jan 25 tested positive for the novel coronavirus.

Japanese health officers were screening all 2,500 passengers and 1,000 crew members.