CORONA VIRUS IMPACT ON TOURISM TO JAPAN

Abstract

In late 2019, China detected a strange respiratory infection, namely coronavirus (COVID-19), with a faster rate of transmission than previous cases. The report explores the impacts of this outbreak on the Japanese tourism sector through the theory of risk perception. Besides, the role of traveler and contact on disease outbreaks and the effect of tourism risks on destination image are part of the literature that direct this study. Through the seven-step model, the report analyses the coronavirus situation identifies its problem within tourism, find possible solutions, choose the most appropriate strategy, and recommend its implementation. All these objectives are achieved through a systematic review of relevant pieces of research that have been published in 2020. The rest of the paper is arranged into introduction, research objectives, literature review, methodology, findings, discussion, conclusion, and recommendations.

Introduction

The global tourism market has grown expeditiously after the world recovered from the 2008 economic crisis. Besides, new markets have emerged in different parts of the world. The tourism industry is among the most profitable sectors across the globe through its generation of expenditures and the creation of jobs. It also provides an opportunity for travelers to experience new cultures, thus, promoting the existence of a global community, where people can identify themselves with different social practices across the world. However, like other service-based sectors, tourism consists of immateriality, inseparability, unpredictability, and perishability properties that increase its risks in comparison to goods-oriented markets. Tourists are likely to avoid destinations where they perceive that their lives are threatened. Since travelers are mobile and plan for their vacations early enough, they can change their destinations in the case of an increased risk in their initial choices. Disease outbreak is among the threats that the tourism market faces. For the entitlement to life and good health surpasses all other rights, few people would travel to places where they risk their wellbeing.

The recent outbreak of coronavirus is an ongoing example of how epidemics affect tourism and related industries, such as travel. Along with the fear of tourists to visit specific places perceived as risky for coronavirus infection, the response mechanisms tend to discourage tourism activities. For instance, the banning of flights or people traveling to and from specific regions is not only destructive to tourism but also a violation of health rights. With Asia being at increased risk for coronavirus, new measures of managing the disease are needed to salvage the Japanese tourism industry, which is at stake, as evidenced by the reduced number of travelers since the onset of the disease.

Research Objectives

• To understand the coronavirus in terms of prevalence and mode of transmission
• To explore the established measures of controlling the spread of coronavirus
• To assess the impact of coronavirus on traveling
• To investigate the major source regions for tourists who visit japan
• To establish the effect of coronavirus on the Japanese tourism sector
• To recommend appropriate strategies for mitigating the impacts of coronavirus on tourism

Literature Review

Travel Risk Perception

There lacks a global description of what risk entails. Risk takes different forms and is shaped by facts, experience, opinions, social groupings, culture, and personal beliefs (Baker 2018). Additionally, sensational occurrences affect people’s perception of risk, as illustrated by the 9/11 terrorist attacks that resulted in an increased awareness in tourism-related literature of terrorism (Denovan et al. 2017). The tourism industry is among the most profitable sectors across the world through the generation of expenditures and the creation of jobs. Tourism provides an opportunity for travelers to experience new cultures, thus, promoting the existence of a global community where people can identify themselves with different social practices across the world. The mobility of travelers enables them to change their destinations in the case of an increased risk in their initial choices. The main risks in tourism include war and political instabilities, health concerns, crime, terrorism, and natural calamities (Hasan, Ismail, and Islam 2017). Although some of these threats are manageable, their control depends on a country’s preparedness in handling crises.

Following the economic value of tourism, the impacts of risks can be destructive and have longstanding effects on a destination, and the economy of a country. Studies on the impacts risk perception of tourism reveal an inverse correlation, in that people are unlikely to travel if they think that a certain destination is risky. Besides, researchers have focused on the mediating factors between risk awareness and travel intents. Travel safety has been associated with plans to travel, but negatively lined to travel anxieties (Baker 2018). Anxiety is a form of response to potentially harmful or risky situations. Risk perception is central to people’s decision to travel from their safe homes to places where their safety is uncertain.

Risk perceptions related to transnational travel are subjects to geographic location. Also, risk perception is mainly associated with the avoidance of affected destinations (Karl, 2016). If potential visitors perceive that the possibility of acquiring a disease in a certain region is high, they are likely to seek other places for their vacation. Risky destinations are, therefore, excluded from the choice set. Tourists in international travel often experience a high level of anxiety, which varies according to the type of risk, proximity to the origin, and news coverage (Kapuscinski and Richards, 2016; Yang, Sharif, and Khoo-Lattimore, 2015). Risk, both real and perceived, is, therefore, a significant factor in the travel industry.

Risk Dimensions in Tourism

Service industries, such as tourism, are different from product-based sectors in terms of properties. According to Hasan et al. (2017), tourism, as a service industry, have service-specific aspects, such as immateriality, inseparability, unpredictability, and perishability that increase the perceived risk in comparison to goods. Alongside the attributed mentioned above, tourism is vulnerable to crime, political instability, natural misfortunes, and disease outbreaks. These factors are part of the basis of the choice of a travel destination. In a study of tourism-related risks, Sohn, Lee, and Yoon (2016) analyzed various ways of categorizing these threats and came up with two classes, namely, physical and psychological risks that affect any person intending to visit a particular region. The risks result from personal events (disease), environmental conditions (warfare), and social experiences.

Although some of these risks are unseen and uncontrollable, travelers have access to information which they can analyze to determine the risks to which they are exposed. The World Health Organization (WHO) reports that the destination, standards of hygiene, accommodation, the season of travel, the behavior of the tourist, and traveler’s health influence the level of risk that tourists face (WHO n.d.). Destinations marked with low quality of accommodation, inadequate hygiene, unavailability of medical services, and clean water pose great health risks to visitors (WHO n.d.). Implementation of proper mechanisms to counter these factors may reduce the risk of travel, and, in return, attract many tourists. However, “Unforeseen natural or man-made disasters may occur; outbreaks of known or newly emerging infectious diseases are often unpredictable” (WHO n.d.). In such cases, affected countries start handling an already-occurred crisis, which poses a risk to visitors and potential travelers.

Impacts of Travel and Contact on Pandemics

The pattern and frequency of travel can influence the spread of disease outbreaks. Regular travelers intensify the spread, especially when infected early. Travel directions, aviation system, the rate of arrival and departure of flights at and from an airport, and the number of travelers are significant factors in assessing the spread of contemporary epidemics. Travelers can serve as transporters of disease pathogens from one region to another. In a study to examine the role of contact patterns on epidemic upsurges, Yin, Shi, Dong, and Yan (2017) found that contact patterns influence the evolution of illness and the risk of infection from a world and individual perspectives, respectively. For this reason, people respond to disease outbreaks through reduction of contact frequency, vaccination, isolation of infected people and places, and practicing everyday precautions, including hand hygiene and wearing masks (Yin et al. 2017). In this way, the tourism industry is affected as people are advised by authorities to avoid contact, making them not to travel.

Impacts of Tourism Risks on Destination Image

The tourism experience of a certain destination influences its image and determines the possibility of a return visit. In an examination of the implications of tourism risks, Ruan, Li, and Liu (2017) established that tourists’ feeling of being in danger or at a risky travel destination results in a negative image. With such a reputation, tourists are unlikely to visit again and may spread the information to other potential visitors to warn of the danger. If the risk is a contagion, travel warnings are issued across the world until the infection is contained and the destination declared safe. Rossello, Santana-Gallego, and Awan (2017) studied the impact of infectious diseases on tourism by comparing the rate of travel in countries with and without an outbreak. The researchers established a decline in the number of tourist arrivals in destinations with reported cases of contagion, with tourists choosing alternative destinations (Rossello et al. 2017). The damage of a destination image may have long term impacts on the economy of a country.

Methodology

The study is a systematic review and realizes its objectives through the seven-step process model, as illustrated below.

1. Negotiation and contract signing. The initial stage involves the sharing of responsibilities among the stakeholders to reduce the impacts of coronavirus on the tourism sector.
2. Analysis of the situation. The second stage entails the search of relevant pieces of literature to obtain information about the coronavirus, its origin, transmission, and prevalence. Data was gathered from secondary sources retrieved from various electronic databases and websites. The main sources of research data included healthcare websites, Lancet archives, American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), and government sites that provide health information. The search terms involved the term coronavirus or COVID-19, in combination with “source,” “infection,” “transmission,” and “prevalence.”
3. Identification of the problem. At the step, data was gathered from airline websites and government sites that monitor the traveling of people from one region to another to determine the impact of the coronavirus outbreak on tourism.
4. Options and solutions. The fourth stage involves an analysis of the measures that are put in place to combat the virus, assessing their effectiveness. Also, new strategies are sought to enable the control of the virus while reducing its effect on tourism.
5. Choice of solution. The most appropriate solution among the options will be identified. The solution must control the spread of the virus and, at the same time, ensure the sustainability of tourism.
6. Implementation of the solution. Recommendations are made for the implementation of the strategy identified in stage five.
7. Assessment of the impact. Criteria for measuring the effectiveness of the proposed strategy are listed. Primarily, the approach can be assessed based on its ability to reduce the number of new infections, while enabling people to travel safely to their preferred destinations.

The initial search generated a large number of articles whose contents could not fit in this report. For time, space, and relevance, the articles were limited to being published in 2020, secondary sources, and credible.  Among the many materials that were revealed during the search, 9 of them were identified as appropriate for inclusion.

Four of the sources were retrieved from lancet database to provide information on early dynamics of transmission and control (Kucharski et al. 2020), the right control measures (Xiao and Torok 2020), the feasibility of isolation as a control measure (Hellewell et al. 2020), and the impact of misinformation about the virus (Garrett 2020).  These sources are written by qualified academicians and healthcare professionals working in the area of infectious diseases, and, thus, provide the most relevant research data on COVID-19. The WHO website discusses the situation of the virus in terms of numbers, showing all the affected regions in and outside china (WHO 2020). This report by WHO is the 48^th situation article published one week before the time of writing; hence, it presents the most recent data on the prevalence and risk of the virus. Another article from AAAS discusses the impact of travel restrictions on the transmission of coronavirus (Chinazzi et al. 2020). The article written by professionals in health educational institutions from the US and Europe provides details on travel bans and the risk of importation of the virus by other regions.

Various airlines have limited flights in all the affected countries. Since the inclusion of information from all airlines’ websites is not feasible, an article drawn from Bloomberg was included. The material contains updated data about all the airlines that have halted their flights due to the spread of the coronavirus from the onset of the outbreak to the time of writing of this study (Pogkas, Sam, and Whiteaker 2020). The World Atlas provided data about tourism destinations in japan and source countries for visitors to japan (Misachi 2019). Likewise, the Japan National Tourism Organization (JNTO) provides statistics on the number of tourist arrivals to Japan since the outbreak of coronavirus (JNTO, 2020). This information facilitates the establishment of the relationship between risk of travel, flight bans, and the Japanese tourism industry.

Data from these materials were analyzed according to the aforementioned research objectives. Since the data are not statistical, no statistical software was used. Microsoft word program was used in noting down the major findings of the studies in preparation for presentation in the following section.

Findings

Coronavirus Pandemic

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) or coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) originated in Wuhan, China, in December 2019 (Xiao and Torok 2020). The disease is transmitted through the airborne route and, thus, it is highly infectious. As of March 8, 2020, 105,586 people had tested positive of the COVID-19, with 80,859 of them being in China (WHO 2020). A total of 3,584 deaths have occurred, with the infection extending to over 100 countries in Africa, America, South East Asia, eastern Mediterranean, Europe, and the western pacific region (WHO 2020). In the assessment of the transmission dynamics of the virus, Kucharski et al. (2020) report the possibility of significant variation in the transmission of SARS-CoV-2 over time. The researchers argue that the introduction of a single case in a new location cannot necessarily cause an outbreak. The high individual-level variation of SARS-CoV-2 transmission weakens new transmission chains (Kucharski et al. 2020). Onward transmission chains are needed to facilitate the COVID-19 outbreak.

Measures of Controlling the Spread of Coronavirus

The variation in transmission calls for quick case identification and subsequent isolation (Kucharski et al. 2020). Effective contact tracing and isolation have been found to be useful in reducing the number of cases, which makes the disease easy to manage (Hellewell et al. 2020).  However, in the assessment of the effectiveness of isolation as a control measure, Hellewell et al. (2020) report that isolation and contact tracing alone are insufficient in the control of outbreaks, and further interventions are necessary. Since the WHO declared COVID-19 as an emergency of global concern, various measures have been implemented to control the transmission. Nevertheless, as Xiao and Torok (2020) note, some of these measures lack a scientific basis and are ineffective. For instance,

• Disinfection of air in cities using alcohol spray is ineffective and may be harmful to people if done in large quantities.
• Personal protective gear, such as masks and goggles, can only be efficient if used by an infected person or healthcare providers who are handling COVID-19 patients, but not when everyone uses them.
• The blocking of traffic and the shutdown of villages are worthless. The suspension of flights to and from China and banning Chinese from traveling is against the WHO international health regulations (Xiao and Torok 2020).
• WHO has specified the absence of an identified effective cure for COVID-19.

Since the COVID-19 is an emerging contagious illness, Xiao and Torok (2020) recommend the use of evidence-based, multifactorial approach to (1) reduce human-to-human transmission,  (2) swiftly identify, isolate, and offer optimal patient care, (3) establish and control animal-related transmission, (4) address uncertainties such as clinical severity, the level of transmission, treatment options, medications, and vaccines. Furthermore, there is a need to reduce social interruption, and economic implications, through global, concerted, and multi-sectoral strategies.

The Impact of Corona Virus on Traveling

Since coronavirus was detected in Wuhan, China, it has spread throughout the world due to misinformation surrounding its pathogenesis and transmission (Garrett 2020).  The result of these misconceptions is a crisis that is fueled by lies spread through various social media platforms. Global stock markets have recorded record plummets as global supply and production systems are almost collapsing (Garrett 2020). Public fear has gone viral as COVID-19 spreads to nearly all regions of the world (Garrett 2020).

Along with this panic, the virus has disrupted the travel industry in many routes, and would-be travelers have no option than to remain at home due to health concerns. The cancellation of commercial flights started in January 2020 and was implemented mainly in Wuhan, but the limitation swiftly expanded across China, which is among the busiest travel markets in the world (Pogkas et al. 2020). Major airlines, including Qatar Airways, Air France, and American Airlines, went ahead to halt all flights to mainland China, with the list of flight suspension growing as the virus spread to Italy, Japan, and South Korea, and other countries (Pogkas et al. 2020). At the time of writing, Asia is the most affected as 35 airline companies ban flights to and from all affected cities, including Daegu, Jeju, Delhi, Shanghai, Wuhan, Tokyo, Osaka, Guangzhou, London, Taiwan, and Paris, among others (Pogkas et al. 2020). Moreover, governments are blocking the entry of non-citizens who have traveled to China, Iran, Italy, and South Korea, and other regions affected by the virus (Pogkas et al. 2020).

The Major Source Regions for Tourists Who Visit Japan

Japan is one of the best places in the world for shopping and is also popular for its temples and shrines (Misachi 2019). Besides, Japanese cities, such a Nara and Kyoto, provide a variety of architectural phenomena and historical monuments, which are major tourist attractions (Misachi 2019). The top source of nations for tourists visiting Japan include china, South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, United States, Thailand, Australia, Malaysia, Singapore, Philippines, the UK, and Canada (Misachi 2019).  The main tourist destinations include Tokyo, Hokkaido, Kanto, Shikoku, and Chubu regions (Misachi 2019). Himeji castle, with a network of 83 buildings, attracts about million visitors annually (Misachi 2019).

The Effect of Corona Virus on Japanese Tourism Sector

The following table shows the number of tourists to Japan between October 2019 and February 2020.

Table 1. Tourists to Japan from the largest markets

Country	China	South Korea	Taiwan	Hong Kong	Thailand	Singapore	Total
Date
September 2019	819,100	201,200	376,200	155,900	62,100	29,100	1,643,600
October 2019	730,600	197,300	413,700	180,600	145,300	41,900	1,709,400
November 2019	750,900	205,000	392,100	199,700	140,300	65,300	1,753,300
December 2019	710,200	248,000	348,300	249,600	164,900	100,400	1,821,400
January 2020	924,800	316,800	461,200	219,400	112,500	30,200	2,064,900

As the table shows, the number of visitors to Japan has been increasing from September 2019 to January 2020. While January had the highest number of visitors, only Chinese, South Korean, and Taiwan markets had a growth. The number of Hong Kong, Thailand, and Singapore travelers to Japan had reduced by about 12%, 32%, and 70%, respectively.

Although February data are not available currently, figures for February and March must be different from those of January. According to Nippon Communications Foundation, the Chinese government prohibited the sale of group tour packages from January 27, implying that the number of Chinese traveling from that day would decline until the ban is lifted (Nippon 2020). The Japanese National Tourism Organization (JNTO) has issued travel advisories to travelers wishing to visit Japan in February and March. Foreigners with Chinese passports and have visited Hubei, Zhejiang, South Korea, Iran, Italy, and San Marino within 114 days of arrival will not be allowed to land in japan (JNTO 2020). All visas issued by the Embassy and consulates-general of Japan in China and Korea have been canceled (JNTO 2020). About 400,000 Chinese nationals who had planned to visit Japan between January 27 and the end of March have no option but to cancel their trips (Jiji, 2020). Furthermore, over 50 tourist attraction facilities have been closed from the beginning of February (JNTO 2020).  Table 2 below shows some of the attractions in Japan that have been closed temporarily.

Table 2. The closure of Japanese attraction sites

Prefecture	Facility	Closed until
Hokkaido	Hokkaido museum of modern art	March 16, 2020
Hokkaido	Hokkaido Asahikahawa museum of art	March 16, 2020
Tokyo	Bunkamura	March 10, 2020
Tokyo	Tokyo Hara Museum	March 12, 2020
Tokyo	National theatre	March 15, 2020
Tokyo	Tokyo opera city	March 16, 2020
Nagano	Matsumoto castle	March 17, 2020

 

Discussion

Coronavirus has extended to over 100 countries barely three months after its initial detection in Wuhan, China. The WHO and governments of the affected region have made all attempts to reduce the number of cases of the virus. Some of the measures, such as isolation and contact tracing, have been effective in controlling human-human transmission. However, some prevention measures have affected the tourism industry significantly. For instance, the ban on flights to from coronavirus-struck areas has reduced the number of people traveling to Japan. Even before the outbreak had gone viral, Hong Kong, Thailand, and Singapore had reduced the number of people visiting Japan in January 2020. A huge number of Chinese nationals visited Japan in January, mainly because they were celebrating Chinese Independence Day. However, the move by the Chinese government to outlaw the selling of tour packages, the Japanese government to ban the entry of foreigners from COVID-9-hit countries, and the closure of major tourist attraction facilities from the beginning of February have one main impact; the reduction of tourists to Japan. This decline may continue until a cure for the disease is discovered.

These findings are in line with the identified. For instance, risk perception is mainly associated with the avoidance of affected destinations. Foreigners from Hong Kong, Thailand, and Singapore began fearing for their lives in January and could not visit Japan. Tourist attractions have been closed down due to the decline in the number of visitors. The disease has destroyed the image of these destinations. Besides, travel directions, aviation systems, the rate of arrival and departure of flights at and from an airport, and the number of travelers are significant factors in assessing the spread of contemporary epidemics. For this reason, governments have banned flights from specific routes as a means of controlling the transmission of COVID-19.

Options and Solutions

The outbreak of coronavirus and its fast rate of transmission across the world have reduced the number of visitors to Japan. Since the virus began in China and later extended to other regions of the world, the travel industry is also responsible for the transmission. Therefore, as the health sector, governments, and health organizations commit their resources to find a solution to this problem, the travel industry may worsen the case by ferrying infected persons from one region to another, where they infect others either deliberately or accidentally. The solution must, therefore, be multi-sectoral. The following are a possible set of solutions.

• Create one source of information about the progress of the disease, trace contacts of all infected persons and isolate them from the public, provide medication to the isolated individuals to reduce the symptoms of the virus, and allow flights from unaffected regions.
• The WHO should remain in charge of informing the world about the progress of COVID-19 and the process of discovering a cure, sensitize the public and ban the publication of fake news meant to scare people, allow traveling to proceed, but only for healthy individuals, and foreigners should be quarantined for at least 14 days before they are allowed to interact with other people.
• Only release credible information, trace contact of all infected persons and isolate them from the public, allow the travel of uninfected people only, ensure the collaboration of health, travel, and tourism industries to prevent the transmission of the virus by maintaining hygiene, quick reporting of suspicious cases, and banning the travel of infected persons.

Choice of Solution

The most appropriate set of solutions must control the transmission and ensure healthy people can travel to and from their countries. The following steps are optimal in addressing the COVID-19 problem.

• Develop an information center under the WHO and UN to update the world on matters about coronavirus.
• Prohibit fake news circulated through social media
• Identify and isolate infected persons
• Trace contacts of persons who are potentially infected for isolation
• Provide optimal medication to affected persons
• Educate the public on the need for self-hygiene practices
• Minimize local and international travel by banning infected persons from traveling
• Promote concerted efforts by health, travel, and tourism industries to prevent the transmission of the virus by maintaining hygiene and quick reporting of suspicious cases
• Hold foreigners at entry points for the maximum number of days necessary for the virus to be detected.
• Ensure that all sectors of the economy are operational since they are dependent on each other.

The use of multi-sectoral approaches has been advocated by various scholars as an effective measure of managing disease outbreaks. Xiao and Torok (2020) recommend the use of evidence-based, multifactorial approach to reduce coronavirus transmission, identify, isolate, and offer optimal patient care, address uncertainties, and minimize social interruption and economic implications, through global, concerted, and multi-sectoral strategies. Likewise, Hung et al. (2018) assert that effectiveness preparedness in health and tourism industries, such as regular monitoring of hygiene at hotel facilities and creating coordination mechanisms on screening, quick reporting, and isolation of infected individuals can mitigate the impacts of emerging epidemics. The multifactorial approach is, therefore, appropriate.

Conclusion and Recommendations

The benefits and value of the tourism industry cannot be overlooked. It creates thousands of jobs for attendants at attraction facilities, hotels, and travel companies. Tourism is also a source of government revenue. For these reasons, the industry must be protected against any threat. As the report illustrates, however, the recent outbreak of coronavirus in China has impacted tourism in numerous ways through travel bans, restrictions against foreigners from virus-hit countries, the prohibition of the sale of expedition packages, and the closure of tourist attraction facilities. While these measures are designed to control the transmission of coronavirus, they have and continue hurting the tourism sector. There is a need to adjust some of these strategies to prevent social interruption and possible economic implications.

Recommendations

Following the analysis of the problem and measures implemented to resolve the situation. It is worthless to enact strategies that might hurt the future of the world due to economic losses. Firstly, the public deserves correct and verifiable information and, thus, fake news must be prohibited. Secondly, public education should be implemented at international, national, and local levels to ensure that everyone has the capacity to maintain self-hygiene and avoid contracting the virus. Thirdly, a change is needed in travel bans to allow healthy individuals to travel with necessary provisions and measures to ensure that they have no virus. Such people can be quarantined for some time to confirm their wellbeing. Lastly, all sectors of the economy must remain operational since they depend on each other for prosperity. In this way, the Japanese tourism sector can be salvaged.

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