Koreans increasingly hesitant about visiting Japan after deadly earthquake

Debris litters the ground in front of a house damaged by an earthquake in the Japanese city of Suzu on the Noto Peninsula of Ishikawa prefecture, Wednesday. EPA-Yonhap

By Ko Dong-hwan

• Published Jan 3, 2024 4:39 PM KST
• Updated Jan 4, 2024 9:52 AM KST

A growing number of Koreans are hesitating over their upcoming visits to Japan due to concerns about more earthquakes after a deadly quake hit western Japan on Monday. The quake so far has claimed the lives of more than 50 people there, according to travelers and tourism industry officials, Wednesday.

Local travel agencies are also concerned that Koreans who have already reserved travel packages in Japan might cancel them. Considering Japan is one of the most popular destinations for Koreans, mass cancellations could lead to a significant economic loss for the country's tourism industry.

The disaster has troubled those who have either reserved flights to Japan or were planning to do so.

"I'm worried there could be more of this once I get there," said a Seoul resident in her 60s who had reserved a group tour package to Kyoto through a local tourism agency for later this month. "I heard that this earthquake is far from over yet so I'm considering canceling the whole thing."

A Korean couple in their 30s who were considering a vacation in Tokyo said that they might have to change their itinerary.

"It's not our first time visiting Japan so I guess we should try this another time because you never know what might happen," one member of the couple said.

Aftershocks have continued on the Noto Peninsula in Ishikawa prefecture after a series of quakes started hitting the region on Monday, with magnitude peaking at 7.6. The region felt another one on Wednesday morning, an aftershock measuring magnitude 5.5. Between 4 p.m. on Monday and 3 a.m. on Wednesday, there were a total of 448 tremors with a magnitude of 1 or higher registered, according to Japan's meteorological authority.

The situation is expected to fuel Koreans' fears of visiting Japan and deal an economic blow to the country's tourism sector, as many Koreans travel to the country every year.

According to the online tourism reservation platform Yanolja, six of Koreans' 20 most popular travel destinations in 2023 were in Japan. Interpark, another online travel booking platform, said that seven out of 10 Koreans who booked overseas flights traveled to either Japan or Southeast Asia during the same year.

The country's tourism industry hasn't yet witnessed mass cancellations. Local travel agencies said that while they have received inquiries from those who already reserved tour packages to Japan regarding safety concerns, this didn't lead to the cancellation of their trips.

The reason, according to the agencies, is that their tour packages don't include locations near the peninsula and most of their customers have booked their trips hundreds of kilometers away from there. The nearest travel destination from the peninsula, where most Korean agencies offer packages, is the city of Toyama, some 90 kilometers to the south. But the programs including Toyama are available only during March-April and September-October.

An official from Hana Tour, one of the major travel agencies here, said that the epicenter of the earthquake on Monday was far from where many Koreans visit like Tokyo (560 kilometers), Fukuoka (850 kilometers) and Osaka (290 kilometers) and airports and hotels there are operating normally.

"I don't expect many problems with the reservations already made," the official said. "About upcoming reservations, however, we will have to see."

The agencies, for now, are running their businesses as usual, including charging booking cancellation fees for those who have booked flights or package programs to Japan. It is one of the reasons people who had reserved trips to Japan are reluctant to cancel their itineraries despite the fear that more earthquakes could occur.