The tourism authorities of the Japanese prefecture of Osaka, the second most visited in the Asian country, have conducted a survey among hotels in the region that reveals that guests of Chinese nationality have canceled up to 70% of their reservations amid the diplomatic crisis over Taiwan.
The survey, whose results were presented this Thursday, was conducted among 20 hotels in the prefecture and shows that between 50% and 70% of the reservations made by customers of Chinese origin until the end of December have been canceled so far, according to details published by the local economic newspaper Nikkei.
“The situation is uneven” depending on the hotel, said Osaka Convention & Tourism Bureau President Hiroshi Mizohata at a press conference, who noted that, despite this, they cannot be “complacent.”
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Mizohata explained that, while hotels that rely heavily on Chinese customers have been severely affected, other accommodations are compensating for cancellations with other bookings, but advocated for taking the necessary measures to continue attracting visitors steadily in the coming months.
The findings in this region of western Japan are a foretaste of the impact that the Chinese government’s calls for its citizens to avoid visiting the neighboring archipelago, which it reiterated this Thursday, are expected to have on the Japanese tourism industry.
Chinese visitors are currently the most numerous by nationality among foreign tourists to Japan, and accounted for 23% of the total tourist flow to the Asian country in the ten months through the end of October, according to data from the Japan National Tourism Organization (JNTO).
The real impact will be truly reflected in the data from November, when the crisis erupted following comments by Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi about a potential military intervention by her country if its security were compromised by an attack on Taiwan.
China, which claims sovereignty over the self-governed island, has accused the leader of interfering in its internal affairs with her statements in the national Parliament, and has adopted a series of measures within the framework of the tension, such as the reinstatement of its veto on the import of Japanese seafood products or the cancellation of government meetings.
