‘Once-in-a-decade’ blizzard freezes holiday plans for thousands of Hong Kong tourists in Japan
- Travel agencies in city say flights unaffected but tour groups already in Japan have to switch destinations and accommodation
- Storm has shut down infrastructure in affected regions of the country, but industry leaders expect weather to turn a corner soon
Thousands of Hong Kong tourists in Japan are facing disruptions to their holiday plans as a “once-in-a-decade” blizzard rips through the country, shutting down railways and major thoroughfares.
At least 200 travellers had already experienced some form of delay or changes to their itinerary among some 6,000 people from the city across tour groups in Japan, Fanny Yeung Shuk-fan, executive director of the Travel Industry Council, said on Wednesday.
The figure does not take into account independent travellers.
“Fortunately, it merely involves delay, such as late arrivals at hotels or destination changes without wide impact,” Yeung said, ruling out safety concerns and risks of tourists being seriously stranded.
She and other industry leaders said they expected the situation to improve in the coming days, with the weather turning a corner.
Holidaymakers about to set off for Japan remained undeterred on Wednesday, as they continued to monitor flights bound for one of the city’s most popular travel destinations.
Those already in Japan, meanwhile, were left with no choice but to change plans, with many stranded in coaches stuck in traffic, according to Steve Huen Kwok-chuen, head of a travel agency specialising in tours to Japan.
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Huen, executive director of EGL Holdings, said his company had between 2,000 and 3,000 clients in the country across 60 tour groups, adding that while customers were not affected by flight changes, local transport and infrastructure had become unstable.
Just one Hong Kong-bound flight jointly operated by Cathay Pacific Airways and subsidiary Hong Kong Express on Tuesday was delayed by a day, according to the airport’s website, with none cancelled.
Huen said: “Due to the heavy snow, many highways and railways have shut down, causing hurdles for tour groups to reach their destinations or accommodation.”
He added that at least three groups in Hokkaido bound for Furano, a popular spot for ski enthusiasts, had to turn back due to extreme weather.
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Other groups in the southern prefecture of Kyushu and in the city of Kanazawa, home to many Japanese gardens along the coastline of the Sea of Japan, changed their hotels.
“But tourists have been very understanding as they know the situation has been caused by extreme weather,” Huen said, adding that such blizzards were rare.
Yuen Chun-ning, executive director of travel agency WWPKG, told the press his company had about 1,000 tourists in Japan.
He said 60 were briefly stranded at Kansai International Airport in Osaka on Tuesday with services on the bridge connecting the island airport with the mainland suspended.
The Japan Meteorological Agency has warned of a cold spell seen “only once in a decade” across wide areas of the country, especially in the western and eastern regions between Tuesday and Thursday, leading to power outages, traffic blockades and frost. Residents have been advised to stay indoors.
A video circulating online shows strong wind blowing into a JR railway station in Kyoto, which is partially outdoors, with passengers covering themselves in thick layers of clothing as snowflakes from the intense storm find their way into the facility.
Another clip showed a driver scraping off a thick layer of snow piled up on his vehicle.
Karis Chu Ying-ying, who arrived in Osaka on Sunday with her husband and five-year-old son, said they had to cancel their ski trip to Biwako Valley, a snow mountain located an hour’s drive away, because of the intense storm.
“There is no train or vehicle that can get us there,” she said, adding that the family instead went to the nearby city of Kyoto to experience the snow. “But our kid doesn’t get to go skiing.”
Patrick Chan, who toured the popular Kiyomizu-dera shrine in Kyoto with his wife and eight-year-old son, said there were traffic jams everywhere, with the snow slowing down drivers.
But he noted there were train services available for him to return to Osaka. “We didn’t plan to see the snow and now our kid gets to experience it,” he said.
A couple, who only gave their family name as Lin, said they had dropped plans to Hokkaido’s port city of Otaru and decided to stay overnight at the airport hotel in advance to avoid the snow, before heading off to Niseko on Thursday.
“I have experienced train services to Otaru being cancelled a few years ago due to snow. There was no way to go there. That’s why we withdrew our hotel booking in advance,” Mrs Lin, in her fifties, said.
A traveller, surnamed Wong, who departed from Hong Kong on Wednesday, said her group planned to stay in the hotel and rest if the snowstorm became too intense.
The chill also gripped neighbouring South Korea, with temperatures in capital Seoul dropping to as low as minus 17.3 degrees Celsius (63 Fahrenheit), a record for the country for the current winter.
