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BusinessWeek on the low numbers of Japanese headed to Beijing Olympics

August 7, 2008
By Ken Worsley


BusinessWeek correspondent Hiroko Tashiro has a new piece on why Japanese tourists are not heading to the Beijing Olympics in droves. Tashiro makes the point that negative media coverage of China has been the norm over the past year, especially following the poisoned gyoza scandal. Of course, the manner in which the protests in Tibet and the Olympic flame relay were dealt with also weigh in as factors.

But, we have to expect there to be some mismanagement on the business end as well. Tashiro gives an interesting, though brief, look into how the ticket situation has been bungled by the combination of the IOC, JOC and Japanese travel agencies. Here’s one illustration:

In the case of judo, for instance, [ANA Sales] has 50 tickets for the preliminary rounds but 10 for the finals. “You can’t tell a customer to watch only the early rounds and then go back to the hotel to see the finals,” says Sawaki. “It’s a hard sell.”

One factor not mentioned in the article, however, is that overseas travel in general (not just to China) is down this year. This points to economic troubles amongst those who would usually be saving up to make such a special trip. Higher travel prices and stagnant wages are taking their toll as overseas trips are being put off. Domestic travel destinations may benefit as a result, but electronics firms had probably counted on selling a lot more digital cameras to people heading off to the Olympics.

Most likely there is a balance of factors. China’s image has taken a battering in the Japanese media and people have less disposable income. Perhaps other residents figure they just might be able to wait until 2016 to see the games in Tokyo, as the city is now offering what Reuters calls a “blueprint” for large cities planning to host the Olympics in the 21st century.

Filed Under Business, China, Tourism 

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Comments

3 Responses to “BusinessWeek on the low numbers of Japanese headed to Beijing Olympics”

  1. www.japansoc.com on August 8th, 2008 5:10 am

    Low numbers of Japanese headed to Beijing Olympics…

    Apparently all is not well in the ticketing business for Japanese travelers to the Olympics…

  2. Ken Worsley on August 10th, 2008 8:23 pm

    Another good point has been raised in relation to this article over at the JapanSoc post: User LongCountdown writes:

    In addition to the points Ken mentions, I wonder if the pollution thing has kept some Japanese away?

    I think this can definitely factor in, and it’s probably part of the perception of China put forward by the media. Of course, the pollution problem is very real.

  3. Meking on August 11th, 2008 7:57 pm

    People think China is dangerous. Food, pollution, rip off prices. The media hardly needed to do much to convince people to stay at home.

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