[UPDATE] Japan Catastrophe Could Cost NYC Tourism Industry $1 Billion

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[Update below] On top of everything else, Japan's tourist industry has taken a nose dive since the triple-punch earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear threat rocked the island nation last week. The Japan National Tourism Organization doesn't yet have any statistics about booking cancelations, but the AP reports that Americans are canceling or postponing upcoming trips to Japan. And the flip side of this is that Japanese travelers are canceling their vacations to the U.S.

The Japanese are the fourth largest group of tourists that come to the U.S., and though their numbers have declined somewhat in recent years, Market Watch reports that over 2.9 million Japanese came last year, spending about $13 billion. And the website estimates that over 200,000 Japanese tourists visited NYC last year. But local hotels and tour operators tell the Post about half of their seasonal bookings from Japan have been cancelled already.

The Kitano on Park Avenue reports 250 bookings cancelled since the earthquake, and sushi restaurants are worried what the nuclear plant problems will mean for their fish supply. The tabloid estimates that the city's tourism industry could take a $1 billion loss. We've checked with the NYC public affairs department to see what they think of that number, but what's happening in Japan is obviously bad for the entire world. Of course, what's happening in Japan is immeasurably worse for the Japanese than any economic loss we may feel in NYC, and with that nuclear plant teetering on the brink of catastrophe, our problems seem a tad trivial.

UPDATE: As we suspected, the Post's $1 billion number seems to be more than a little sensational. George Fertitta, the CEO of NYC & Company, the city's official marketing, tourism and partnership organization, tells us, "Last year, NYC welcomed 225,000 Japanese visitors who spent an estimated $565 million in the city—but that's less than one half of one percent of all visitors. We expect the current and very sad disaster in Japan to have an impact on visitors to New York City, but a fraction of what some have speculated."

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By John Del Signore in News on March 17, 2011 4:23 PM

Comments [rss]

Joel Ceballos

I loved AKIRA, great film. Despite that I don't agree that Tokyo will be consumed by a nuclear meltdown, I do believe world-cities will eventually turn into these concrete monstrocities.

Mohammad Neyaz Hasan

Hope it will recover soon to normal.

NlGGAZ

They will be coming here in droves just to get away from that radiation bomb. My friend is coming back from Japan and she lives in the southern tip of the island. Sold/donated all her stuff and is looking for a place to live here. Look a the first 1 minute of Akira to see what's gonna happen to Tokyo. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...

Neo-Tokyo is coming.

henrybear

If there was a "god" he would rid the world of stupid people, like you.

Joel Ceballos

There is a 'god,' it's called NATURE.

henrybear

Please, don't associate anything fake, like god, with something real, like nature.

Joel Ceballos

Which is why (if you bother to pay attention to detail) I put quotation marks on the word 'God' which in actuality is an IDEA. But Ideas are not just merely abstract they are 'things.'

FU Boy

While I love that move - and I recently re-watched it about three weeks ago - you're way off on this one.

1) nuclear meltdown is not the same as nuclear explosion.
2) Even if 1 was not the case - in order for Tokyo to be consumed in the explosion, the power plant would need to be moved to the middle of Tokyo to have that effect.
3) What was shown in that movie was not nuclear, it was caused by an extremely powerful young boy. If you didn't know that you missed, oh, 99% of the point of the entire movie.

On a side note, I'm disappointed they re-did the voice dubbing for the DVD release of Akira. Some stuff's better, some stuff's worse, but I grew very fond of a few of the horribly translated lines and the actor's interpretations of the VHS version.

shocktheday

Smart move, because NYC is not prone to terrorist attacks and natural disasters.

Joel Ceballos

Sad, the Japanese tourists stand out for me then most other tourists from other areas, they are usually eager to try out a lot of the local stuff rather then just merely the touristy ones.