Island issue sinks China-Japan tourism
News On Japan via China Daily -- Jan 23
As the annual travel peak approaches, Chinese-Japanese tourism remains near rock bottom, and industry insiders say they expect no speedy recovery because of the Diaoyu Islands dispute.
Four months after all tour packages to Japan were withdrawn when tensions rose, Japanese travel packages reappeared on Chinese travel agency websites in December.
But the booking records on some websites show that the Japanese tours, once popular during the weeklong Spring Festival holiday, are far from fully booked, a stark contrast with other overseas destinations.
"All travel agencies are testing the waters to see how the market responds to tour packages to Japan, but the results are not good," said Ge Lei, a spokesman for China Youth Travel Service.
Source: China Daily
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