Tourism in Japan:

https://www.yahoo.com/news/coronavirus-crisis-threatens-silence-japans-042620855.html

Article:

TOKYO (Reuters) - The restaurants at the Exitmelsa shopping centre 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 centre, told Reuters. Those customers evaporated after China in January banned overseas group tours.

Comments and Ideas:

Japan grew its economy over the previous five or six years on tourism, mostly from China. It was only natural that many businesses became dependent or grew their businesses on tourism from China. South Korea was the same way, as it grew its economy on tourists from China.

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 cancelled, although organisers 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.

Comments and Ideas:

Everyone knows now what has happened; the postponement of the Olympics. Not unexpected not a surprise. When some countries began to pullout Japan had no choice but to postpone for the good of everyone.

Article:

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.

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.

Comments and Ideas:

March and April maybe everywhere in the world is going to be down. Its very unfortunate that so many industries are affected in this way. Lets hope governments step in and can be empathetic to the needs of society overall and find ways to protect industries and society. Protect jobs and lives. Worry about budgets later. Protects the future of jobs now.

Have a nice day and be safe out there!

© 2020, Tom Metts, all rights reserved