Introduction
There are various reasons and factors that can impact the tourism and economic sector. The natural disasters can hinder the development, scare foreigners and result in the negative impacts on the travel and tourism in the country. The earthquake and tsunami in the Japan in the year 2011 left many consequences of which many are still visible today. On one side, Japan is a known country prone to the various natural disasters, but on the other, one of the most developed and most prepared for the unfortunate events. Natural disasters can have long lasting effect on the tourism, but the impacts can be diminished with various initiatives and frameworks implemented on national and regional level. The tourism sector in Japan prior and after the 2011 will be examined and the main impacts tsunami left in the Japan tourism industry.
Place and disaster
Japan is an earthquake prone country with good preparedness and preventive measures from natural disasters. The country is known of specific earthquake contractions, good disaster management, various launched policies and engineering tools that can diminish the impacts of natural disasters. Tohoku region in Japan was the most affected by the 2011 earthquake and tsunami that were the biggest natural disasters after the World War II.
On 11th March 2011 the earthquake and tsunami struck northeast of Japan. The natural disaster was the most serious one after the Kobe earthquake in 1995. It had serious consequences and resulted in the national and international decline of tourism in the country. Earthquake of a 9.0 magnitude with numerous aftershocks and the epicenter at the coast Sanriku was the strongest in the recent past. The earthquake which resulted in 18 meters high tsunami waves was responsible for the 15.782 dead and 4.986 missing people. Various houses in the Iwate, Miyagi and Fukushima prefectures have been destroyed. The estimated range of damage caused in the tsunami-afflicted areas was calculated at the range between 9.6 and 25 trillion yens. In the cost of damage, building damage, lifeline facilities, social infrastructure facilities and other costs were included. The tsunami caused the meltdown at the Fukushima Dai-Ichi power satiation, which raised global concerns of safety (Kazama & Noda, 2012). The impacts of disasters were seen in damaging of local infrastructure, transport, water supply, electricity production facilities, along with nuclear plant that all affected the Japanese economy. The damage caused by tsunami was calculated at around 6% of the national GDP (World Travel & Tourism Council, 2011).
Changes in the tourism
Tourism in Japan prior to the disaster and the image portrayed
Prior to the tsunami 2011 it was assumed that the tourism sector will contribute around 10.5 trillion yen to the national GDP, which is about 2.2% of the total national GDP (World Travel & Tourism Council, 2011). Prior to the natural disaster the numbers of the international travel to Japan grew. Figure 1 is showing that the personal travel grew faster as the business travel. Annual compound average growth was at 6.5%. The decline in the arrivals in 2009 is the result of the global recession (World Travel & Tourism Council, 2011).
Figure 1 Inbound Travel in Japan prior to the tsunami
Source: World Travel & Tourism Council, 2011, 2.
The image of the destination plays very important role in perceived travel risks. The image of the region was not portrayed as especially vulnerable to the earthquakes and tsunamis, but the country is well known to tackle the issues of possible natural disasters. The traveler’s perception of the image and risk of the destination are playing an important role in the travel decisions (Chew & Jahri, 2013). The Tohoku region is a place of the UNESCO World Heritage Sites and home to many historic and scenic sites. The region is known by its traditions and festivals. In the region the history, nature and culture can be observed and experienced.
Tourism in Japan after the disaster
Dramatic impacts in the aftermath of tsunami can be shown with the 62% fall of inbound arrivals in April 2011 in comparison to the same month a year before. Based on the World Travel & Tourism Council (2012) the impact of tsunami on the tourism was greater than in previous natural disasters. The decline that was a lot bigger in comparison to previous natural disasters in tourism is presented in the Figure 2. The restoration of the tourism in the country is of vital importance because of the contribution of tourist sector to the national economy. The tourism sector is very important to the Japan since it provided around 1.5 million jobs in the year 2011. Japan has the third largest direct economy benefits from the Travel & Tourism sector. In the tourism sector the domestic spending is far more visible with accounting for around 94.1% in comparison to the 5.9% of foreign visitor spending. Inbound leisure travel in a couple of months after the tsunami felt for around 90%. Many hotels were closed completely as a result of the damage caused. Recovery was going on in 227 municipal governments. Most affected from by decline in tourism was the Tohoku region (World Travel & Tourism Council, 2011).
Figure 2 Aftermath of earthquake and tsunami on the tourism
Source: World Travel & Tourism Council, 2011, 3.
The recovery is far from finished. The Tohoku earthquake and tsunami caused the perceptions and concerns of radioactive leakage from the Fukushima nuclear plant, which has affected the region and the entire country. The tourist destinations were challenged. Various attempts and strategies to promote recovery of the tourism were launched. The Okinawa Tourism Crisis Management Imitative implemented strategy of the highest safety and risk preparedness as the core element in tourism recovery campaign. In the Japan various conferences were held. Local media and overall media reported of the crisis readiness with manuals available in the hotels of the potential threat to safety. The global perception of Japan being radioactive is a perception that the tourism sector still wants to shake off. Demand for the domestic tourism has been successfully restored in the recovery campaign, but much still needs to be done to reach the levels of tourism prior to the tsunami (David, 2015).
Japan made various strategies to recover from the natural disaster with boosting tourism in the region and increasing the domestic and inbound tourism. The government of Japan has been promoting the accurate information on the situation regarding the Fukushima power plant. The information about the radioactive monitoring across the country and region were spread. The government launched the “Share your WOW! Japan Photo Contest”. Another initiative launched was The “Destination Tohoku Campaign” in heavily affected areas. The promotion of tourism was strengthening with targeting the foreign markets. The country invited the foreign travel agents and oversea media. With hosting conferences and international summits the concerns about the radioactivity and danger were trying to be diminished (OECD, 2014). Media has played a significant role with television shows, films, and anime with promotion of the affected regions. Various organizations from educational institutions, activist groups to religious one were and still are conducting study tours in the region that are fostering the educational aspect. They have made various changes to counter any recurrence of the event such as promotion of the alarming devices and building the expensive sea wall (Kingston, n. d.). Recovery plan included the resettlement sites in the higher ground, relocation and aggregation. Japan planed various buffer zones and included already known simulation and preparedness for the possible future disasters (Kondor & Santiago-Fandino, 2015). The place is using new image with trying to incorporate and benefit from the natural disaster in 2011. The direction seen from the OECD reporting and also from newspaper is directed towards improving the image of the country and to diminish the effect the Fukushima power plant created in the foreign travel eyes. The governmental, public and private organizations are targeting domestic and also the foreign actors via various mechanisms to improve the tourism sector. The approaches are emphasizing the safety, the quality of air, land and water. All are trying to reduce the concerns with different techniques.
Remarkable recovery was seen in many part of the Tohoku region. However, the significant damage can still be seen in various part of the region. There still remain the concerns of radioactive pollution, even though the area is not polluted. The economic and tourism damage caused by misinformation, misperceptions and rumors is the culprit of the tourism industry slower recovery. The tourism industry is very important for all Japanese regions and the recovery has been seen since the year 2011 onward. Various tourists are concerned about the contaminated food, water and air quality. Security and safety perceptions greatly affect the tourism (Chew & Jahri, 2013). The government, tourists’ national and local organizations have been promoting the affected regions in the year 2011 onward. The tourist packages today include the visiting of the Tohoku region with hearing and talking to survivors and witnesses and view of the disaster monuments, which is boosting the economy, local business and also the tourism sector. Based on the Japan Tourism Marketing Co. (2016) the numbers of foreign and domestic tourist are lower, but on the increase. The number of tourists was bigger prior the tsunami and has dramatically declined in the aftermath. The Japan is trying to improve the image of the country and has done a good job in various filed. Country has managed to increase the numbers of the tourists in the northwest of the country. Different actors have improved the tourism sector that is of vital importance to the whole national economy, but much improvement is still needed in the area of reconstructing and improving the public image of the country. Japan has been always perceived as one of the most technological and developed country that has a good mechanism to tackle natural disasters which is also contributing to the perceived image. The new approach is showing positive results since the prediction of the increase in the tourism industry are assumed.
Conclusion
Time prior to the earthquake and tsunami the Japan tourism industry was on the increase and growing. With the worst natural disaster after the second world the drastic decline was seen. The response to the destruction was immediate reported all around the world and the impacts are still visible today. Along with the tsunami and earthquake impacts Japan needed to face with the nuclear issue of Fukushima power plant, which has done the most damage to the country. It affected the vast area with destroying the infrastructure, building and resulted in many injured and dead. Many changes have been made by the government and local organizations to tackle the future possible tsunami in this area, but the destruction still remains in various parts of the region. The new approach of boosting of tourism has shown to be working, but much still needs to be done in order to improve the situation in the tourism industry and also in the reconstruction with rebuilding of the most affected areas and increasing the trust of the tourists. The future of tourism in Japan did not finish it has only been given a new start with the possibility to see more tourists residing in the country in the year 2016 in comparison to the 2011. The decline of foreign and domestic travelers will highly likely remain the recent past.
References
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