March 11th 2011 will go down in history for all the wrong reason but more than the disaster itself the after affects have been crippling to the country’s economy. As foreigners in Japan headed homes in droves, those planning their trips here cancelled in panic. A country desperately in need of an injection of wealth and vitality has had just the opposite. The exaggerated talk of a country in nuclear turmoil has triggered such profound sense fear that understandably would-be tourists have taken the decision to put off their travels to the far east indefinitely.
As a result the government is current putting forward a proposal to entice tourists back to Japan with the offer of free flights. Up to 10,000 travelers could receive these free flights to Japan in a concerted effort to revive the country’s suffering tourism industry following this year’s crises.
The initiative is currently subject to government budget approval but if given the go-ahead the program could launch as soon as April 2012. The Japanese Tourism Agency is predicted to spend around 10% of its yearly budget on the round-trip flights, amounting to approximately $14.3 million. The deal wouldn’t included accommodation and expenses but is still a major political and economic move.
Applicants will apparently be required to fill out an online questionnaire specifying which areas of the country they would be particularly interested in visiting. The Tourism Agency will then select 10,000 winners who will be required to tweet, blog and write about their trip in a worldwide attempt to promote Japan as a safe and unique holiday destination. Japanese skeptics however have argued the money would be more useful channeled into aid for the victims of the 11 March disaster.
Statistically, visitor numbers to the country, between March and June, plummeted to around 320,000 (half the usual figure) in the aftermath of the 11 March disasters and the following nuclear crisis.
The government has insisted Japan is safe, except for the immediate vicinity of the Fukushima power plant however, there has been fears that the spread is far more reaching than first thought with a few areas in Tokyo and Yokohama registering unusually high levels of radioactive strontium.
Japan was struck by an 9.0 magnitude earthquake on March 11th this year causing a tsunami, which left 23,000 dead or missing and triggering the world’s worst nuclear accident since Chernobyl in 1986. Recent studies have reflected this revealing the number of visitors are still down by roughly a third from a year ago.
With thanks to wanderlust.co.uk for article contents and information.
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