In the wake of disaster - recovering tourism in Japan

FROM the Queensland floods to the Christchurch earthquake and political unrest in Egypt, 2011 has been a year in which major events have not just devastated local communities but also impacted on people's travel plans.

Japan is the latest country to face a dramatic downturn in visitors in the wake of the March 11 earthquake and tsunami, with fears of aftershocks and radiation from the Fukushima nuclear reactor deterring tourists.

In March the number of Australians travelling to Japan fell by half to about 11,000.

Before the natural disasters, Japan was on a high, experiencing its most tourists on record in the first two months of the year.

Yukio Yamashita, executive director of Japan National Tourism Organisation's Sydney office, is keen to point out that only 0.1 per cent of Japan was affected by the tsunami and the area that was affected was not a particularly popular destination for Australian travellers anyway.

The devastating tsunami struck the Tohoku region, about 400km north of Tokyo on the northeast coast of the main island Honshu.

Most Australians who go to Japan either visit ski resorts on the north island Hokkaido, which was not affected by the tsunami, or follow the "golden route" from Tokyo along the southeast coast to Hiroshima.

The route includes Hakone, where you can view Mt Fuji and enjoy hot springs, the modern city of Nagoya, the traditional city of Kyoto, Osaka, Nara and Okayama.

Yamashita says Australians are also starting to discover new ski destinations such as Appi and Zao, which are also on the main island.

Australia's Department of Foreign Affairs advises Australians not to travel to Ibaraki, Tochigi, Iwate, Miyagi and Fukushima prefectures or within the 80km evacuation zone around these areas. But the overall advice for Japan is level three to exercise a high degree of caution.

The United Nations has found that radiation outside the evacuation zone is at permissible levels and poses no health risks.

While radiation levels in Tokyo and Kyoto have increased slightly since the disaster, on an average day, the radiation level in Sydney is actually higher than in either city due to environmental factors.

Although there have been comparisons to the Chernobyl nuclear disaster in Ukraine in 1986, the International Atomic Energy Agency says the two are "absolutely different in view of structure and scale".

About 370,000 tera-becquerals of radioactive materials were emitted in Fukushima, compared with 5.2 million in Chernobyl.

"Chernobyl exploded, Fukushima stopped automatically," Yamashita says.

Most tourist attractions in Japan are now open, although some may have shortened opening hours to conserve power.

All international airports are operating, even Sendai Airport, which was damaged by the tsunami, and the bullet trains are all running as normal.

"At the moment, tourists are still not sure whether to go or not because they don't have enough information," Yamashita says.

"People who have done their research realise that Japan is pretty safe."

Travel and tourism accounted for about 2 per cent of Japan's gross domestic product in 2009, according to the Japan Tourism Agency, but the country has ambitious plans to boost its tourism industry significantly over the next few years.

"I think Australians are familiar with the situation with the floods in Queensland, when a lot of overseas tourists perceived Australia as a whole as not attractive to travel to not just Queensland," Yamashita says.

"We are very grateful to Australian people who have been sending encouragement messages, donations and rescue teams.

"Now we ask Australian travellers to continue their support of the recovery of the other parts of Japan which have not been affected by the tsunami and earthquake but by a drop in tourist numbers."

For those who are planning a visit, Yamashita says January and February are the most popular times for Australians who want to ski, but in late February and March visibility is better.

If you go in late March, you may also catch the cherry blossoms, which flower from south to north for two weeks at a time.

While it can be hot in summer (July to August), it is a great time for events, including fireworks called hanabi that often last for more than an hour.

Ken Osetroff, the director of small group touring company Toursgallery, says the number of phone calls from Australians interested in travelling to Japan is increasing.

"The majority of people are saying they want to go back next year," Osetroff says.

"But that doesn't help Japan much this year. And the problem is the hotels need to keep their staff employed and if they can't they're going to have to close their doors and they won't be there next year."

Osetroff was in Japan last month and has five tours going there this year.

"People don't understand how big Japan is everyone thinks of it as a tiny little place in the world and if there's a problem there everyone is affected," he says.

"That's not the case at all life is going on in 99 per cent of Japan.

"People in Japan couldn't understand what all the fuss was about everything is running as normal."

But Osetroff says there are unlikely to be major discounts to lure visitors to Japan. "Unfortunately, the Japanese don't think that way," he says.

But he says now is a wonderful time to fly to Japan. "You can buy the cheapest possible ticket in economy class and get three seats to yourself," he says.