Queensland Braces for Japanese Tourism Slump

Outbound tourism from Japan can be expected to fall sharply in the wake of the shocking earthquake and tsunami disaster which is thought to have killed well over 10,000 people. The deadly quake has been followed by a nuclear reactor crisis and bitterly cold weather.

Queensland, in particular, benefits from Japanese tourism. Japanese enjoy the Gold Coast and the market was returning. In 2010, a downward spiral in Japanese tourism to the Gold Coast finally reversed. Last year, Japanese visits to Queensland leapt by 12% to reach 398,000 visitors

A downturn is now expected. An article in the Australian newspaper quoted Daniel Gschwind, chief executive of the Queensland Tourism Industry Council, reporting that the state had enjoyed a “terrific turnaround” last year after Jetstar – the main provider of Japan/Australia flights, began a new service between Osaka and Cairns in April. Gschwind admitted that the state faced “another enormous challenge in this market”, which was a matter of serious concern.

Worldwide publicity given to the floods in January and then Cyclone Yasi have already hit bookings to Queensland. Cancellations from Japan started flowing in after those events and moves were underway to reverse the trend.

The Japanese market is known to be very sensitive to bad news, whether from abroad or at home.

Gschwind pointed out that many Japanese would have other priorities now, and that culturally it was not done to travel overseas at times of national crisis.

There are several precedents. In the 1992 Los Angeles Riots, which killed 53 people, a Japanese driver was attacked and injured. The riots and the attack, widely publicised in Japan, produced massive cancellations. Los Angeles County’s most important international market for tourists took a nosedive. A full 18 months after the end of those riots, tourism industry executives in Los Angeles were still seeing both leisure and business travel from Japan continuing to decline. One hotel operator said business from Japan declined about 40% at his property in the year following the riots. Leisure travellers were landing at Los Angeles International Airport on commercial flights from Japan and bypassing the city to go on to other destinations in the United States.

The Japanese outbound market can be expected to switch off after the current tragic, quake-related events. It may be some time before it re-engages.

Japan is the fifth-biggest provider of inbound tourists to Australia. The market share it represents has fallen steadily from the early 1990s, when it represented 22%. It now represents about 6%, with Japan ranking after New Zealand, Britain, the US and China in visitation to Australia.

Some 357,000 visitors from Japan arrived in Australia last year. Tourism Australia’s “There’s Nothing Like Australia” campaign kicked off in Japan in September 2010.

(Source: Peter Needham, eGlobalTravelMedia.com.au, March 2011)