Tourism industry hits the skids - Brief Article

Japan, Inc., June, 2003 by Bruce Rutledge

FIRST A WEAK ECONOMY, then war, now SARS. The tourism industry is reeling from all three, and as a result, overseas travel this spring and summer is expected to be way below average. The Japan Association of Travel Agents (JATA) released data that showed package tours as being down 37 percent year on year in April and June, and 50 percent in May. Japan Air Systems has asked some of its flight attendants to take unpaid leave during May and June to deal with the downturn, the Nikkei reported.

Package tours to Asia are down a full 65 percent, according to JATA.

The association released a report on the industry in February that was slightly optimistic about a rebound because of increased travel from Japan to other parts of Asia. Here's an excerpt:

"Recovery of travel demand for the US, including Hawaii, is quite slow. It seems that many of those seeking to avoid danger select Asian destinations, especially China and Vietnam ... China has become more convenient for Japanese to visit both in terms of cost and distance, thanks to there being more airline services available.

Various tourist spots in China are often featured in the Japanese media, and this appears to have brought on a wave of travel demand for this neighboring country."

But SARS has destroyed that trend in a hurry. There's good reason to believe the current combination of global political uncertainty, terrorism concerns and disease will hit Japan's travel industry far harder than 911 did. Let's hope I'm wrong.