Mainichi: Foreign Visitors:

https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20200319/p2g/00m/0na/094000c

Article:

TOKYO (Kyodo) -- The number of foreign visitors to Japan plunged 58.3 percent in February, the largest on-year drop for any month in nearly nine years, dented by travel restrictions to prevent the spread of the new coronavirus, government data showed Thursday.

An estimated 1.09 million foreigners visited Japan last month, down from 2.60 million a year earlier, after China banned all outbound group travel in late January. Chinese travelers accounted for 30 percent of all overseas visitors in 2019, the biggest among all countries and regions.

The drop in February was the fifth straight month of decline and the largest since April 2011 when the figure fell 62.5 percent after a devastating earthquake and tsunami hit northeastern Japan the previous month, causing the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster.

The number of inbound tourists is set to see sharper drops in the coming months, as Japan recently tightened entry restrictions on people arriving from China, South Korea and Europe to curb COVID-19.

Comments and Ideas:

The decline is not surprising after the travel restrictions from Japan and China. What is not so good, of course, is the number of tourist related businesses that are going to be affected, if not already from the decrease in business.

Then of course the decrease in domestic tourists as the virus situation continues.

Article:

"The circumstance in March will be even more severe. We'll cooperate with other countries to expand the tourism market," Japan Tourism Agency Commissioner Hiroshi Tabata said at a press conference.

The outlook is a setback for the Japanese government, which has aimed to boost the number of annual inbound visitors to 40 million by this year when the country hosts the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics. The number of foreign visitors rose 2.2 percent to a record 31.88 million last year.

The sharp drop in foreign tourists is also a significant blow to the retail, restaurant and other industries in Japan.

The Resona Research Institute estimates the virus outbreak is expected to cut spending by foreign travelers to Japan by 981.3 billion yen ($9 billion) from February to June.

Comments and Ideas:

March most likely was as bad or worse than February. As restrictions are added, flights are cancelled, businesses in Japan for international tourists and domestic tourist are fighting to survive. 

And then add in less domestic spending overall and the economy spirals down even more.

Cooperation among tourism agencies in different countries is not very useful as long as borders are closed. 

There has got to be a better way for governments and health officials to get the borders open, which means the economies also need to get open. The global economy was not meant to be silent for this long. 

Health and immigration officials must work together to ensure safe travel and safe entry back into countries. A quick 1 minute virus test should be developed for airport immigration, for both leaving and entering a country. 

Of course that doesn't mean the next day they are safe, but it helps to get things moving again.

Article:

According to the data from the Japan Tourism Agency, tourists from China dropped 87.9 percent from a year earlier to 87,200 visitors in February.

By country and region, Taiwan had the most travelers to Japan in February at 220,400, down 44.9 percent from a year earlier. South Korea had 143,900, down 79.9 percent, followed by 115,600 from Hong Kong, down 35.5 percent.

Meanwhile, visitors from Russia increased 19.6 percent to 6,700 from a year earlier, the strongest growth in the month. Those from the Philippines rose 12.9 percent at 39,700, followed by Australia, up 1.8 percent at 48,500. However, Australia banned its citizens from leaving the country this week and similar measures have been taken in countries including New Zealand and Malaysia.

Comments and Ideas:

Every country has developed its tourism industry to the point that now, no country can go back to no tourists. There are too many businesses in a country, such as Japan that are dependent on tourism, international and domestic tourism. In many places it is the lifeblood for the area or region. For any country to limit it or restrict it for too long might be a major problem for many companies. And most of those companies are small and medium size companies.

Surely there is a better way to handle the virus situation?

Have a nice day and be safe out there!

© 2020, Tom Metts, all rights reserved