Foreign Visitors to Japan News:

https://www.yahoo.com/news/foreign-visitors-japan-fall-4th-070001615.html

Article:

TOKYO, Feb 19 (Reuters) - The number of foreign visitors to Japan fell for the fourth straight month in January as the impact of a South Korean boycott continued to weigh, with further, sharper falls expected ahead as the coronavirus keeps away Chinese travellers.

Total foreign arrivals, which include tourism and business arrivals, declined 1.1% to 2.66 million from 2.69 million in the corresponding month last year, Japanese government data showed on Wednesday.

Arrivals from South Korea - which has been boycotting Japanese goods and services since a trade dispute ignited between the two countries last year, plunged 59% year-over-year, the Japan National Tourism Organization said.

The number of mainland Chinese visitors to Japan rose 23%, helped by a favourable comparison with 2019 when the Chinese New Year - a peak travel period - took place in February.

The Chinese New Year officially began this year on Jan. 25 - before China halted all tour groups to other countries due to the coronavirus on Jan. 27. The travel ban is likely to have a sharp impact on Japan's tourist arrivals from February.

Comments:

This is no surprise. First of course is the continued difference between Japan and Korea related to a trade issue and Korean society boycotting products/services and traveling to Japan.

And then the virus situation comes along. Some have estimated that up to eight million Chinese tourists visited Japan in 2019 or 2018.

And as expected many Japanese businesses, small and medium, became very dependent on Chinese tourists. So it remains to be seen, at this point, just how much this is going to really affect those small and medium businesses that rely extensively on Chinese tourists.

As far as Korean tourists, it has been estimated, that the travel boycott was/is not too bad in the metro areas, but the smaller areas are feeling the affect of the Korean travel boycott.

And now, Feb. 25, the virus situation is getting worse in South Korea, meaning they might be reluctant to travel anywhere including Japan.

Its possible at 833 cases in South Korea, Japan might even consider a travel ban to and from South Korea in the near future.

Time will tell soon.


© 2020, Tom Metts, all rights reserved