Japan's Tourism Struggle

Above, the pagoda in Asakusa. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

The Washington Post published an article a few days ago on Japan's continuing struggle in attracting foreign tourists due to the "triple catastrophe" of March 11.

It is a good article by Chico Harlan (a name that evokes "What do you get when you cross Col. Sanders with Chico Marx?") refuting a lot of what the mainstream media in the U.S. hysterically reported immediately after the earthquake, tsunami and radiation problems.

The article starts with:

Beth Reiber, the freelance writer responsible for the set of Frommer’s guidebooks on Japan, felt lucky just to get on the plane. Her editors had canceled plans to publish a Tokyo guidebook for 2012, thinking it didn’t make sense to spend all that money to publish a book that nobody would buy.

But Reiber pushed back and gave them the same message that Japan is struggling to give the world: Tokyo remains radiation-free and just as safe as always.

The problems with the Japan travel industry following the quake stems from the mistaken fears that the whole country is contaminated with radioactivity. According to the article, the quake changed Japan's "image" of being a safe country, resulting in a 62% drop in foreign tourism in April. The May figures haven't been released as yet.

If people would bother to look at a geographic map of Japan, they'd see that Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto, Fukuoka, Mt. Fuji, and Okinawa are far away from the affected area.

The article correctly points out:

Much of this is founded on misperception: A region was battered, not all of Japan. But the March 11 disaster has dealt a severe blow to a tourism industry the nation had been counting on to help offset static domestic consumer demand due to a shrinking population.

Regular readers of this blog are aware that I have been "beating the drums" for Japan tourism.

It is interesting to note that Frommer’s was considering canceling their Tokyo guidebook for 2012. Frommer’s is one of the premier guidebook companies for worldwide travel destinations.

I did notice a "pause" in sales for The Monster Movie Fan's Guide To Japan in the wake of the disaster. But due to using a new (for me at least) press release distribution company and a pre-vacation season discount in May, sales are now back up again. No throwing in the towel here!

It is also interesting that Frommer's was skittish in publishing their Tokyo guide, since they are a corporation and should have the resources to detect trends for Japan travel. And, they should know better (and I am just a one-man operation in comparison). Couldn't they tell from their own maps that the affected region (Tohoku) is far to the north of Kantu (to give just one example)? Maybe Frommer's should listen to Ms. Rieber more often.

To read the full article, go here.