Reference News Network, December 13 report: According to the website of the "Nikkei Business Newspaper", due to a sharp drop in Chinese tourists visiting Japan, hotel prices in Kyoto, a famous tourist destination in Japan, have significantly "plummeted".
The report said that the hotel industry in Kyoto has experienced "a rollercoaster" recently. First, an unexpected influx of foreign tourists led to hotels being "hard to find a room" and prices soaring. Then, due to a sudden decline in Chinese tourists, hotel prices dropped sharply, and even on weekends and holidays, the prices are very "reasonable".
In recent days, if you search for "Kyoto hotels" on Google, you can see that the trend of hotel price reductions is obvious. There are many hotels with prices below 10,000 yen (about 450 RMB) per night, and the current prices of these hotels are only equivalent to those of business hotels from the previous generation.
The report said that the impact of the erroneous remarks by Takahashi Asako regarding Taiwan is now being felt throughout Japan, with orders frequently being canceled. Hostel operators and travel agencies targeting Chinese tourists have encountered a large wave of order cancellations, which has left them feeling discouraged. If this situation continues, it will certainly harm Japan's inbound consumption, which has long become a vital industry with significant growth potential in the Japanese economy.
According to the chief economist of the Nomura Research Institute, Kiuchi Nobuhide, the economic loss related to Japan could be as high as 1.79 trillion yen. Tourist destinations in Japan with a higher proportion of Chinese tourists hope that this issue can be resolved before the Chinese Lunar New Year in February 2026.
The report stated that originally, the total number of Chinese tourists visiting Japan in 2025 was expected to exceed the record of 959 million set in 2019 and reach 10 million. However, just as Japan was about to reach this milestone, Chinese tourists suddenly disappeared, which is undoubtedly a heavy blow to the Japanese tourism industry.
Translation by Chen Xi
Original: toutiao.com/article/7583236527879094819/
Statement: This article represents the views of the author.