InsideJapan News Network

More than 500,000 people chose to cancel their Japan hotel reservations in light of the March 11th earthquake, it has been reported.

The Japan Tourism Agency announced yesterday (April 12th) that the total figure of 560,000 does not include cancellations in the disaster-hit Iwate and Chiba prefectures, the Associated Press reports.

Agency commissioner Hiroshi Mizohata said in a press conference that the travel organisation would have to revise its annual goal of attracting 11 million foreign travellers this year.

It's not just foreigners who are being put off travelling, however, as figures released by the Japan Association of Travel Agents showed that the number of domestic travellers in the final week of March was down by around 40 per cent.

Furthermore, the outlook appears quite bleak for the industry, with travel reservations for the April to May period down by 45 per cent year-on-year.

Written by Susan Ballion