TRAVEL agencies in Japan have received cancellations on a number of tours to France in the aftermath of last Friday’s terrorist attacks in Paris.
JTB has cancelled all tours that were scheduled to depart between Saturday and Monday, affecting about 500 clients, said company spokesman Motohisa Tachikawa. Meanwhile, travellers booked on tours departing between Tuesday and Friday this week have been given the option to cancel their holidays with no charge.
“Paris is one of the most popular destinations in Europe for our clients so we are watching to see how this affects client numbers,” he added. “One measure we have taken is to offer clients who no longer want to go to Paris alternative destinations in Europe, such as Italy, Norway or Germany.”
H.I.S. similarly permitted customers to cancel their vacations scheduled to depart on Saturday and Monday for free.
Japan Airlines (JAL) and All Nippon Airways (ANA) have similarly reported a significant number of cancellations from both business and leisure travellers.
“We estimate that our load factor is down around 20 per cent, with some passengers changing their schedules and others simply cancelling their flights,” Jian Yang, of JAL’s public relations office, told TTG Asia e-Daily. “We are monitoring the situation, but it is not clear at this point whether there will be a longer-term impact on our flights to Paris.”
ANA also reported its load factor was down around 30 per cent.
