Beijing tourists safe in Japan after quake

Beijing tourists safe in Japan after quake

• Source: Global Times
• [08:57 March 14 2011]
• Comments

Tourists check for travel info to Japan at the Beijing International Tourism Expo and North China Travel Fair in June 2010 at the China International Exhibition Center. Photo: CFP
By Fang Yunyu

The Beijing Municipal Administration of Tourism announced there have been no reports of casualties among Beijing's total 889 tourists in Japan as of 12 pm Saturday after the nation suffered a magnitude-9.0 earthquake and tsunami.

The city's 17 travel agencies confirmed not one among their 45 tourist groups had been wounded or killed.

Another 43 tours, scheduled to head for Japan this week, were either canceled or delayed, according to the announcement.

"Our two groups totaling in 34 tourists will return on March 14 and 17 respectively," Yao Yao, spokesman for Beijing-based China Comfort Travel, told the Global Times.

"They are now safe in Tokyo hotels waiting to come back," Yao said.

He also revealed that one tourist group's scheduled trip to Tokyo on Friday has been cancelled.

"We're now negotiating compensation with our customers," he said.

A six-day trip to Japan including airfare usually costs around 10,000 yuan ($1,521). However the catastrophe has devastated tourism in many areas, such as the northern island of Hokkaido.

"The recovery of Japan's tourism industry's may take several months," Yao said.

"Rebuilding infrastructures requires time," he said, "And people are still panicked. Recovery from the psychological impact of the disaster will take even longer."

Although Sendai Airport in northeastern Japan was ravaged by the tsunami, a total of 52 flights between Beijing and other cities in Japan have not been affected, according to the Capital International Airport press office Sunday.