ENQUIRIES and new bookings for Japan have stopped at two of Singapore’s largest travel agencies following the natural disaster and ongoing nuclear crisis in the country.
There were also cancellations and postponements from travellers scheduled to leave for Japan from now until April, which is a popular travel period for Singaporeans because of the March school holidays and Japan’s cherry blossom season.
CTC Travel’s senior vice president, marketing & PR, Alicia Seah, told TTG Asia e-Daily that 80 per cent of the 1,000 clients scheduled to travel to Japan until mid-April have chosen to postpone their trips or switch to Hong Kong and other nearby destinations.
Chan Brothers has chosen to cancel all tour groups departing for Japan until April 10 and has taken the destination off its promotions.
The move follows a Ministry of Foreign Affairs advisory released on Monday that “strongly urged Singaporeans to defer non-essential travel to Japan”.
A spokesperson for Chan Brothers said the company was projecting a 20 per cent drop in sales from April to June: “The current situation will certainly take a toll on bookings with departure from April to June, although this is also highly dependent on the pace of containment and recovery of the current situation.”
