Quakes put chill in south Japan's hot spring tourism boom
18/04/2016 14:55
By Junko Fujita
TOKYO, April 18 (Reuters) - A series of deadly earthquakes
on Japan's southern main island of Kyushu is threatening to
quash a nascent tourism boom, frightening away thousands of
Chinese and other foreign visitors drawn to its hot springs and
lush mountain landscapes.
The island is targeting a 75 percent increase in its 2
trillion yen ($20 billion) tourism industry over the next seven
years, said Makoto Takahashi, executive director at Kyushu
Tourism Promotion Organization.
But China's foreign ministry has urged caution about travel
to Kyushu in the near term and to avoid Kumamoto after the
Kumamoto and Oita prefectures were hit at the weekend by a
magnitude 7.3 earthquake and dozens of aftershocks.
"We were confident to achieve that (tourism) target until
the region was hit by the quake," Takahashi said. "But it's hard
to estimate how much longer we will be suffering the effects of
the earthquake."
The number of foreign visitors to Kyushu surged 69 percent
to a record 2.8 million last year, the Kyushu District Transport
Bureau said, outpacing Japan's 47 percent rise to 19.7 million.
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe last month doubled Japan's target
for foreign visitors to 40 million by 2020, as a weaker yen and
easier visa regulations sparked a rush of foreign tourists,
especially from China, seeking Japanese goods and sightseeing.
A major Kyushu attraction, the four-century-old Kumamoto
Castle, was heavily damaged when Saturday's quake caused a large
section of the stone wall underneath it to collapse.
urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL3N17J053
Oita Prefecture, east of Kumamoto, has Japan's largest
number of hot springs at more than 4,300, made possible by the
region's seismic activity. Hot springs elsewhere in Kyushu offer
thick mud baths and hot sands where bathers are buried up to
their necks.
Yufuin, an Oita town whose small, traditional-style luxury
hotels had become a major draw for wealthy Asians, was almost
empty on Monday.
"There are hardly any visitors here today," said Keiji
Shono, an official at Yufuin-Onsen Tourism Association which
groups 93 hotels and traditional Japanese inns. Some were
damaged but no buildings were destroyed, he said.
Japanese real estate investment trusts that feature hotels,
including Ichigo Hotel REIT Investment Corp 3463.T , down 6.6
percent, and Invincible Investment Corp 8963.T , down 5.5
percent, were the worst performers on Japan's REIT Market Index
on Monday.
($1 = 108.0400 yen)
(Reporting by Junko Fujita;Editing by Edmund Klamann/Ruth
Pitchford)
((813-6441-1840, junko.fujita@thomsonreuters.com, Reuters
Messaging:junko.fujita.reuters.com@reuters.net;))
Keywords: JAPAN QUAKE/TOURISM