Japan remains high on Singaporean agenda

SINGAPOREANS are still keen on travelling to Japan, even though fewer are actually making their way there due to fears over radiation fallout.

Speaking to TTG Asia e-Daily at the Visit Japan Travel Trade Meet in Singapore, Japan National Tourism Organization’s (JNTO) executive director-Singapore office, Motonari Adachi revealed that 3,154 bookings to Japan were confirmed at the recently concluded NATAS fair, compared to 3,931 the year before.

According to Adachi, Hokkaido was the most popular Japanese destination at the fair, while enquiries for other areas, including Kyushu, Okinawa and Gifu, increased significantly compared to last year.

“The Singapore market is showing signs of revival, although not as fast as we would like it to be,” he said. “But we believe that there is a lot of pent-up demand. JNTO forecasts that visitor volume from Singapore will return to pre-disaster levels by the middle of this year.”

In 2011, Singapore arrivals to Japan dropped by 38.5 per cent year-on-year, the biggest decline among all key source markets, according to figures from JNTO.

Singapore outbound travel experts and Japanese tourism organisations whom TTG Asia e-Daily spoke to attributed the drop to the trimming of itineraries offered outside the main tourist destinations of Hokkaido, Tokyo and Osaka following last year’s disaster.

“Travel firms still prefer to focus on selling Hokkaido, Tokyo, and destinations as far away as possible from the Fukashima incident site, as Singaporeans are still afraid to travel to Japan,” said Hamid Samad, assistant director–Business Development, Fascinating Holidays Singapore.

“Fear about radiation contamination is still rife, and some customers have even asked if another earthquake is likely to occur,” he added.

“Singaporeans are an overtly cautious lot,” said Sam How, general manager, Asia-Euro Holidays Singapore. “Japan, for the time being, will probably only draw so called ‘hardcore Japan lovers’ – Singaporeans who have been to Japan before and adore it and all it has to offer.”

As of January this year, preliminary data from JNTO showed that Singapore visitor numbers to Japan were down by only 0.4 per cent year-on-year. JNTO has set a target of 200,000 arrivals from Singapore by end-2012, just below the 180,000 achieved in 2010.

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