Japanese travel to India and Thailand scaled right back amid Mumbai terror tragedy and Bangkok unrest – 28/11/08
Published: 28/11/08
Source: Travel Journal International (Online)*
By Dermot Davitt
JAPAN. Tourism and business travel to India is being hit hard by the terror attacks in Mumbai this week, and Japanese travel in particular is being heavily scaled back. Travel Journal International (TJI) Online* today released a special report into the impact of the crisis. It also reviewed the impact of the anti-government protests in Bangkok, which have closed the city's airports.
In India the attacks on the night of 26 November have prompted many cancellations among Japanese corporate travellers, according to TJI's special report. Many Japanese companies that have regional offices in India have suspended travel to the country.
TJI said: “The proportion of Japanese companies asking to postpone their corporate travel plans versus [those] planning to conduct their travel plans as scheduled are 50:50 at present, said a major travel agency handling many corporate trips overseas on a daily basis. However, the travel agency said an increasing number of firms will postpone their corporate travel plans if the current situation worsens.”
While the ‘caution level’ advisory from the Japanese government remains, travel agencies are expected to continue operating tours to the region as a general rule.
JTB and Kinki Nippon Tourist said they would operate several tours to the area scheduled to depart in December.
India has become an increasingly popular destination for Japanese. In the past five years, there has been double-digit growth to India, except in 2005, when it rose by +6%. In 2007, 146,000 Japanese visited the country, up +22.69%, reported TJI.
“Some 16.9% of Japanese visitors to the country enter through Mumbai City with 58.80% using Delhi as the major port of entry or departure,” added the report.
Travel to Thailand
In Bangkok the Thailand government has declared a state of emergency around the two occupied Bangkok airports - Suvarnabhumi and Don Muang – where police have been ordered to remove People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) protesters so flights can resume.
Suvarnabhumi airport is expected to be closed until 29 November at least. All Bangkok-bound flights departing from Japan scheduled on November 26 were cancelled, said TJI.
Major Japanese travel agencies have suspended tours from Japan to Bangkok but at least 490 Japanese on tours remain unable to return to Japan.
Hankyu Express International said it has cancelled all tours up to 1 December to Bangkok. JTB cancelled tours up to 29 November, pending further developments in Bangkok. Kinki Nippon Tourist has also suspended tours until the 30th, also pending new developments.
*Editor’s note: The Moodie Report works closely with TJI Online, the largest English-language travel trade news source in Japan. Week in, week out, it provides timely and sharp analysis of the all-important Japanese travel market – international and domestic. To subscribe please visit https://tji.tjnet.co.jp. It comes with our highest recommendation.
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