“Corona Shock” Shock of 93% decrease Tourism screams April 21 21:07

The number of foreign tourists visiting Japan in March decreased by 93% from the same month the year before. This was a shocking figure for Japan, which has been aiming to become a tourism nation. The cause is, of course, the spread of the new coronavirus. In addition to the drastic decrease in the number of foreign tourists, the movement of self-restraint has also spread in Japan, which is seriously damaging businesses throughout the country. On the 16th, the area covered by the "Declaration of Emergency" based on the Act on Special Measures expanded nationwide. The tourism industry across the country is in a predicament that it has never experienced.

The day after the first day of opening ...

The Tateyama Kurobe Alpine Route is a mountain sightseeing route in the Northern Alps that connects Toyama and Nagano prefectures. This season when closed routes are opened during the winter should be crowded with many tourists every year, but the number of tourists is drastically reduced.

The huge snow wall "Yuki no Otani", which has become a tourist attraction, was sparse with tourists even on the first day of the opening of the whole line on the 15th.

The next day, the area covered by the "Emergency Declaration" was expanded nationwide. "Tateyama Kurobe Kanemitsu," which operates the Alpine Route, has decided to suspend business from the 17th. The period is until May 10, but it may be extended depending on the future situation.

The Alpine route, which attracts around 900,000 tourists every year. It is an extremely important tourism resource for Toyama Prefecture, and the people concerned say that the impact will be immeasurable if the business suspension is prolonged.

Closed for the first time in 73 years

One of the most famous hot spring areas in Japan is also in a difficult situation. Dogo Onsen in Matsuyama City. All scheduled international flights connecting Matsuyama Airport to Shanghai, Taipei and Seoul have been canceled due to the new coronavirus since March 9th.

The number of bathing guests at the communal bath centered on the Dogo Onsen Main Building, an important cultural property of a country popular with foreigners, fell by 30% in March compared to the same month last year.

According to the Dogo Onsen Ryokan Cooperative Association, the number of guests staying at Dogo Onsen decreased by less than half in March compared to the same month last year. Bookings for April were even more depressed.

In response to the expansion of the area covered by the "Emergency Declaration" to the whole country, Matsuyama City, which manages the "Dogo Onsen Main Building", decided to close from April 18th to May 6th.

Dogo Onsen Main Building is forced to be closed for a long period of time, except for temporary ones due to construction, the supply of hot water stopped due to the "Showa Nankai Earthquake" in 1946, and it was closed for about 3 months until the next year. It's been 73 years since then.

Director Yamauchi
"It was a painful decision, but I decided to close the building from the perspective of preventing infection. I want to converge as soon as possible and continue to disseminate information while the building is closed so that I can call back customers after the road."

The fact that the end of the situation cannot be seen is a great concern for the local tourism industry.

What happens to shrines and temples?

The impact on Kyoto, one of Japan's leading tourist destinations, is also significant. Kyoto Prefecture does not request that the shrines and temples be closed, but there are some places that stop judging by themselves.

Toji Temple in Minami-ku, Kyoto City, which is registered as a World Heritage Site, decided to suspend the visit to the temple on the grounds for the time being from the 22nd, following the declaration of an emergency. The special visit to the five-storied pagoda of the national treasure, which was scheduled from 25th, will also be cancelled.

Toji says, "There were some difficulties in making decisions, but we decided that we should give the highest priority to avoiding movement during the long holidays, so we came to the conclusion that we should stop admission."

In Kyoto City, the world heritage Ninna-ji Temple has stopped visiting until May 6, and Kitano Tenmangu, Kiyomizu-dera Temple, Shimogamo Shrine, Higashi Honganji Temple, etc. are taking steps to shorten the gate opening time.

JR Hokkaido Temporary return

The impact of the sharp decrease in tourists has also reached railway companies.

JR Hokkaido, which has been under severe management, said that “temporary leave” will temporarily suspend employees from May to two and a half months, assuming that the number of users will decrease significantly due to the spread of infection and recovery cannot be expected for the time being. I decided to implement it.

The target is about 1450 people. It accounts for about 20% of all employees such as employees who perform window services at stations, drivers and conductors. The period is from May 1st to July 23rd, and the policy is to take temporary leave for several people per month.

Osamu Shimada, president of JR Hokkaido, said, "To survive, to continue business."

Choice of anguish

Due to such a sharp drop in travel demand, travel companies are forced to take temporary temporary closures. All JTB and HIS stores nationwide, and almost all Kinki Nippon Tourist stores are closed temporarily.

Under such circumstances, there are travel companies that have chosen to struggle to maintain the lives of their employees.

"Kaze no Tora Travel Agency" in Nakano-ku, Tokyo deals with planning and sales of tours to Mongolia and Nepal, and more than 30 people work including the Osaka branch office.

However, due to the fact that each country restricts foreign traffic, sales in March decreased by about 70% compared with the same month of the previous year. All tours until the end of May have been cancelled. For this reason, the company was temporarily closed until May 6, when the emergency declaration was lifted.

Although he plans to pay the employee a leave allowance, he has decided that he will not be able to fully resume his business, and that he will not be able to fully maintain his life with the leave allowance.

In response to this, a 34-year-old male employee started helping as a side dish in late March in fishing for white-belt fish. It is said that he found a job at Hello Work in Kanagawa prefecture, where he removes other small fish from the landed nets and selects only shirasu.

He says he has three children and is very grateful that the company has allowed him to do a side job.

"It's because the employees live. Probably it will be a long-term battle, and the business situation is very severe, but everyone wants to overcome this situation."

I want to increase the usage even a little

There are also lodging facilities that take a painful attempt to recover the number of guests. The hotel "Business Inn Norte" in Sapporo targets the locals.

In March of last year, the occupancy rate of guest rooms, which had exceeded 80%, fell to around 30% at this hotel.

For this reason, we started in April with a low-priced plan that halves the room rate. When staying in a single room for 4 nights or more, the price is 2000 yen per night except Saturday and the day before public holidays. Breakfast and coffee are provided free of charge. I'm going to continue for the whole of May.

The main targets are local people in the suburbs of Sapporo. We would like to use it for people who want to avoid the so-called "3 congestion" when commuting by train. In order to get people from a wide range of industries to use the new plan, we asked local taxis to place a leaflet with detailed information about the plan. There is.

Manager Sasaki
"In the situation where inbound is not expected for the time being, domestic customers are not able to come because of the government's emergency declaration, so people in Hokkaido are targeted. Staying as long as possible for a few guests I want them to recover the depressed operation. "

How difficult is it

The declaration of emergency has spread all over the country, and the government is calling for refraining from unnecessary and urgent travel such as travel and homecoming for large holidays. Business operators who have been thinking about various survival strategies have almost lost their way.

As a measure to stimulate consumption after the situation has settled, the government will subsidize up to 20,000 yen per person per night equivalent to half the price for those who purchased travel products through travel agencies and reservation sites. . In addition to discounting accommodation fees, it plans to issue coupons that can be used at tourist facilities, souvenir shops, restaurants, and transportation facilities.

However, tourism-related businesses hear a deep voice of anxiety that they do not know how long they will be able to endure the end of the spread of infection, which they do not know when.

How can we overcome this inexperienced situation? What kind of support is needed? I will continue to listen to the voices of the front lines and continue thinking together.