Coronavirus: Japan’s tourism industry in ‘survival mode’ as travellers stay away
- Japanese airlines have cancelled hundreds of flights and shopping districts have emptied as leisure and business travellers postpone travel plans
- With cherry blossom season and the Olympics on the horizon, some are warning the tourism sector is in ‘survival mode’ and on the edge of disaster
On a daily basis, 35,000 foreign nationals entered Japan in February, compared with 85,000 a year ago.
Japan Airlines said it had cancelled 352 domestic flights since March 6 on popular routes linking the key cities of Tokyo, Sapporo, Fukuoka and Osaka, as well as Okinawa Prefecture, while All Nippon Airways (ANA) has scrubbed 206 flights. ANA also warned that “symptoms of decline” were creeping into the company’s international operations and that a decision would soon be made on cancellations of international flights.
JAL spokesman Mark Morimoto said domestic demand “has been hit hard by the outbreak, and we have had to take the decision to shut down a portion of our operations for a while”.
He said that in light of the government recommending that sporting and cultural events be cancelled or postponed, JAL would “watch what happens, see the trends that emerge and make a decision on when to resume these flights at the right time,” he said.