Japan’s tourism industry is confronting a sharp and sudden hit after China urged its citizens to avoid travel to Japan, triggering a cascade of flight cancellations and hotel-booking losses across major destinations.

In just a few days, nearly five hundred thousand tickets from China to Japan were cancelled, according to aviation analysts tracking the fallout of the diplomatic rift between Beijing and Tokyo.

At western Japan’s Kansai International Airport, scheduled December flights between the airport and mainland China (excluding Hong Kong and Macau) have already been cut by thirty-four percent.

Airport authorities expect flights between January and March to drop by an average of twenty-eight percent, reflecting deep uncertainty over travel demand.

Hotels in key tourism regions are reporting substantial losses.

In Osaka, between fifty to seventy percent of hotel reservations by Chinese nationals for the remainder of the year have been cancelled.

In other cities with strong Chinese visitor numbers — such as Kyoto and Sapporo — entire tours and bookings have evaporated.

Some properties say over half their Chinese-guest bookings have disappeared.

Market-wide estimates suggest Japan could lose up to one hundred twenty million dollars in tourism-related consumption this year alone if the downturn persists.

Analysts warn the damage may linger well into next year, especially with Lunar New Year travel and winter holidays at risk.

Still, not all sectors are equally affected.

Hotels and operators that diversified target markets — pivoting to travellers from the United States, Europe, Southeast Asia and other regions — report more stable demand.

Some bus and tour operators based in Tokyo have indicated smaller losses, relying on bookings from Western customers that have already begun to rise.

The sharp decline in Chinese tourists — long the backbone of Japan’s post-pandemic rebound — has prompted unprecedented concern among hotel operators, airlines and regional tourism bureaus.

As the traditional flow of guests dries up, many in the industry now face an urgent need to adapt their strategies, reduce costs and broaden their customer base if they are to weather what may become a prolonged slump in Sino-Japanese travel.