2024-08-13 14:40:42
A costly threat to Japanese tourism. The occurrence of a possible “mega earthquake” in Japan has caused thousands of cancellations of hotel reservations in areas considered to be at high risk, a banner season for the tourism sector, industry experts said. work said on Monday.
The Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) issued a warning on Thursday after a 7.1 magnitude earthquake left 15 people injured in the south of the country. “The probability of another strong earthquake is higher than normal, but this does not indicate that an earthquake will occur with certainty,” according to the agency.
The JMA warning concerns the “threat zone” of the Nankai submarine trench, located between two tectonic plates in the Pacific Ocean, where strong earthquakes, of about eight or nine, have occurred in the past, every century or two. In west Kochi – among the hardest-hit areas – at least 9,400 people have canceled their hotel reservations since the warning, a local hotel federation said.
That’s 140 million
The cancellations from August 9 to 18 represent a loss of about 140 million yen (around 868,500 euros), Susumu Nishitani, a representative of the sector, told AFP.
The warning of the megaquake coincided with the annual holiday, during which many Japanese return to their families and honor their ancestors. “Normally, all the hotels and inns in our city will be full this time of year,” noted Susumu Nishitani.
The warning must be lifted next Thursday if no unusual seismic activity is detected, local media estimate. Susumu Nishitani said: “We have little hope of seeing new bookings coming in when the warning is lifted.
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