Hundreds of panicky Japanese tourists canceled booked travel to Taiwan after the March 31 earthquake, a industry professional said yesterday.
"Monday morning at around 9:30am, about 10 hours after the quake took place, our Japanese customers called to cancel a tour group comprised of 200 people. the tour was scheduled to arrive here on Tuesday," said Sung Tzu-ming (
The venture specializes in offering inbound travel service for Japanese customers. It handles more than 70 groups annually.
Adding up canceled hotel rooms, meals at restaurants and transportation services, the cancellation will result in several million NT dollars in losses.
Another travel agency also reported a cancellation.
"A Japanese tour group of 30, originally scheduled to visit Taiwan in mid-April, canceled their reservation yesterday," said Chen Wei-tei (
Japanese are sensitive about safety concerns, Sung said. "Leisure travel isn't like business travel -- consumers can always choose other places to visit," he said.
Japanese are the major contributors to Taiwan's inbound tourism market. According to the Tourism Bureau under the Ministry of Transportation and Communications, last year 971,190 Japanese visited Taiwan, accounting for 37 percent of the total number of foreigner visitors here.
The March 31 earthquake will no doubt have some impact on the nation's tourism business.
"This incident and people's uneasiness is a big headache for us," said Ju Hung-hai (
The government and industry professionals had spent a lot of time and money rebuilding confidence after Sept. 21, 1999 quake.
"It's really depressing ? especially when the nation's tourism industry was just beginning to recover," Ju said.
Over last few days only 20 percent of group tours have cancelled, while following the Sept. 21, 1999 quake, up to 85 percent of group tours were cancelled, Sung said.
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