Japan tour boat tragedy hangs over post-COVID travel restart

Sightseeing ship operators try to reassure Golden Week tourists on safety

May 02 (GPgu6jyl9tc) - After two years struggling against the coronavirus, Japanese tour companies were hoping for the best in the ongoing Golden Week holiday. But their first big test of post-pandemic demand has been marred by a deadly tragedy at sea.

Fourteen people were dead and 12 remained missing as of Sunday after the tour boat they were riding, the Kazu I, vanished off the coast of the northern island of Hokkaido on April 23. It was later found underwater.

With the impact of the tragedy on demand still unclear, tour boat operators say all they can do is focus on safety.

Golden Week, a cluster of national holidays, affords Japanese one of their few times a year for long vacations. This year, anticipation in the travel and tourism industry ran high for the first Golden Week without coronavirus restrictions since the pandemic began.

Bookings for domestic flights were up about 60% on the year as of April 22. Railway operators added bullet trains in another sign of resurgent travel.

About 70 to 90 tour boat accidents have been reported annually in recent years, according to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism.

Fiscal 2020, the most recent year for which data is available, saw 96 accidents. Engine trouble and other equipment problems accounted for 65 of these cases, twice as many as in the year before. More careful inspections might have caught some of these problems before departure. ...continue reading

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