Article:
TOKYO (Reuters) - The restaurants at the Exitmelsa shopping center in Tokyo's upscale Ginza district are usually packed with Chinese tourists. But on a recent weekday, many lunchtime tables were empty, a sign of the toll that the coronavirus is taking on tourism.
For Japanese who have grown dependent on Chinese tourists for business, like waiter Kiyotake Watanabe, it marks a disconcerting trend.
"People on group tours would gather together at noon, and 10 or 20 of them would come in all at once," Watanabe, who works at a Chinese restaurant in the shopping center, told Reuters. Those customers evaporated after China in January banned overseas group tours.
Comments and Ideas:
The virus situation has destroyed tourism everywhere in the world, and maybe even more so than in Japan, as the Japanese govt.
strategy the last five years was to boost tourism as a way to boost the overall economy.
As a result, as normal, many businesses became solely dependent on tourists, especially Chinese tourists who made up more than 30 percent of total tourists in Japan.
Article:
Just months ahead of the 2020 Olympics, the jolt to tourism may presage a broader economic impact from the coronavirus for both Japan and the global economy. Japan could be at particular risk because of its increased reliance on Chinese tourism under Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's "Abenomics" policies.
Nomura Securities had forecast a 240 billion yen ($2.3 billion) bump from event-related tourism in 2020, which it said would evaporate if the Olympics were canceled, although organizers have said delaying or moving the games is not an option. Last year, Japan hosted 31.9 million foreign visitors, who spent 4.81 trillion yen.
The flu-like virus SARS-CoV-2 has spread to about 80 countries after emerging in central China late last year and has hurt global tourism, air travel and events. About 98,000 people have been infected and 3,300 killed worldwide.
Although most cases are in China, more new infections are appearing outside that country.
Comments and Ideas:
Since the comments here are later than when the article was written we now see the results of the virus situation in Japan. Foreign tourists have essentially been blocked from coming to Japan. The Olympics has been postponed until 2021 and now there are lock downs in every major metro area in Japan.
I don't like or agree with the agree with lock downs or keeping foreign tourists out of the country, but I understand it, as probably many feel the same way.
Surely, there should have should be a better way to overcome this. Society, humans are not meant to live this way. Economies are not meant to be this way.
Article:
There are no official tourism figures from February yet, but an immigration services agency official told parliament on Friday that the number of foreign nationals who entered Japan in February was below 1 million.
The last time foreign visitor arrivals were below 1 million in a single month was six years ago, in February 2014, when there were 880,000, according to the Japan National Tourism Organization.
Some analysts - and anecdotal evidence from people in the tourism industry - also suggest that arrivals from Asia alone are likely to be down by at least half.
"You've got that negativity that is going to percolate through the system," said Jesper Koll, a senior adviser at WisdomTree Investments.
The hit to economic growth from slowing inbound tourism could be a quarter of a percentage point or more, he said.
Comments and Ideas:
The decrease in foreign tourists will affect a lot of businesses that depend on tourists. And those businesses related to those businesses and so on through the economic and business chain in an economy. The problem is two fold; when will the situation improve and how long will it take to get back to a normal level of tourists to help businesses if those businesses are even around during that time.
Because I've gotten behind in articles, this is a March article and this is April, the situation seems to have gotten even worse for tourist related businesses, again if there are any left. In this I mean small and medium sized business, not the larger businesses that can probably find a way to survive.
Article:
EXPLOSIVE SHOPPING'
For Japan, which has seen more than 1,000 confirmed infections, 2020 was supposed to be a record year for foreign arrivals and a boon for an economy already on the brink of recession.
About 9.5 million of Japan's foreign visitors last year were Chinese, a number that has risen more than six-fold over the past seven years.
And Chinese visitors spend more than others, accounting for 30% of tourists but 37% of tourist spending last year, according to Japan Tourism Agency data.
At a shop near Watanabe's restaurant, the shelves were lined with rice cookers, sake cups and beauty products such as lipstick usually popular with Chinese tourists, who are known for their "bakugai" or "explosive shopping" sprees.
But there were few customers. Shop workers chatted with each other in the nearly empty store.
On Wednesday, Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda said the outbreak has hurt consumption through a decline in Chinese tourists.
The pain could worsen after Abe on Thursday said the government would suspend existing visas for visitors from China and South Korea and quarantine them for two weeks.
Comments and Ideas:
As the article says, the bulk of the international tourists were Chinese, who also happened to be the biggest spenders.
I understand maybe the need to suspend visa programs, but it should not be for too long.
China and South Korea, both have seen significant decreases in the virus, but I guess its only beginning to show in Japan, which is a problem.
Now it is not the international tourists but the Japanese population that might be spreading the virus.
There are no winners here. All countries need to realize and understand, everyone is the same. We are all humans.
Have a nice day and be safe!
© 2020, Tom Metts, all rights reserved
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