Thursday, September 21, 2023
More than 40% of travel and leisure companies surveyed by a Japan tourism company does not expect Chinese visitors to Japan to return to pre-coronavirus levels until at least next year, as a cooling economy and lack of flights offset the revival of group tours.
Of the 24 hotel, leisure, air travel and other companies that responded to the poll early this month, 10 said they anticipate a full recovery in 2024 at the earliest. Only one sees a rebound this year.
The number of Chinese travellers to Japan between January and August came to only 19% of the 2019 figure for the same period, according to Japan National Tourism Organization data released Wednesday.
Ten companies said they did not know when Chinese travellers would return to pre-COVID levels.
Japan Airlines raised concerns about the risk that the slowdown in the Chinese economy will delay the recovery in visitors to Japan.
The reduced number of flights between the two countries is a factor.
Though ANA Holdings’ All Nippon Airways is expanding service to and from China, it will be at only 35% of pre-pandemic levels at the end of this month, and less than 50% at the end of October.
With air travel capacity still not back to normal, returning to where we were before the coronavirus will take a some time, said Seibu Prince Hotels Worldwide.
The lack of flights is even worse for regions beyond Japan’s biggest cities.
Kyoto and Osaka are recovering, but flights to regional destinations have been slow to return, so the pace of recovery is sluggish,” said JR-West Hotels.
Asked about the impact of the release of treated wastewater from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant — which the Chinese government has condemned — 46% of respondents said it has had no effect on their business.
Tokyu Hotels & Resorts reported no cancellations after the water release. Another 25% reported small declines in business with only a minimal impact.
There wasn’t a marked decrease in bookings, but some group tours cancelled, JAL said.
Imperial Hotel and the Okura Tokyo hotel, which had relatively few Chinese guests to begin with, were largely unaffected.
But Rihga Royal Hotels said that contact from Chinese tour groups about new bookings had dropped significantly.
The outlook remains a concern for some businesses. “We don’t know how political issues like the wastewater release will affect us,” an Osaka-based hotel operator said.
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