Tourism China orders travel agencies to cut group tours to Japan by 40%

Chinese authorities have pressed domestic travel agencies to scale back travel to Japan, instructing major Chinese travel firms to reduce Japan-related business by around 40%. Around the same time, the Chinese government advised its citizens to refrain from travelling to Japan, stating that PM Takaichi's remarks had damaged the climate for people-to-people exchanges and heightened concerns about the safety of Chinese nationals in Japan. Chinese passport holders are required to obtain visas before travelling to Japan, with applications processed through designated travel agencies within China.

According to Chinese media reports, more than 1,900 Japan-bound flights, or over 40% of the total, were cancelled in China in December, while 2,195 flights will be scrapped in January, also about 40%. In recent years, Japan has been among the most popular destinations for Chinese travellers. But it was not among the top 10 popular overseas locations during the winter holidays in January and February next year, local media said. Japanese statistics showed that visitors from China rose only 3.0% in November from a year earlier, compared with a 22.8% rise in October, amid the travel alert issued by the Chinese government.

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Meanwhile, Chinese businesses in Japan that cater to Chinese tourists suffer.

Visitors from China make up the largest group of tourists in Japan, and an industry has grown up known as yitiao long (one dragon), where their entire itinerary, including accommodation, transportation, entertainment and food, is handled by Chinese-owned businesses in Japan. Services are offered in Chinese, and most financial transactions are conducted online on Chinese payment services. There are no official estimates of yitiao long's size, but a Chinese marketing analyst, who did not wish to be named, said he "wouldn't be surprised" if it exceeded 1 trillion yen ($6.4 billion) per year, looking at how much the Chinese generally spend in Japan and estimates from think tanks on Japan's potential tourism losses from the Tokyo-Beijing spat.

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Japanese businesses are looking to adapt by catering to tourists from other parts of the world, a workaround that is proving difficult for the Chinese companies. "Most of our customers are Chinese, and we cannot suddenly pivot to the tourists from Europe or the U.S. We have no clue," said a Chinese employee at a shop renting out traditional Japanese kimonos in the old traditional district of Asakusa in central Tokyo.

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Interestingly, bookings from individual Chinese travellers for the 2026 Lunar New Year holidays are 57% higher than the previous year.

Hotel bookings in Japan by visitors from China have surged ahead of the Lunar New Year holiday in February, despite a diplomatic dispute that led Beijing to caution its citizens about travel to Japan.

Data from the reservation management platform Tripla show that bookings made from China for the period between 15 and 23 February rose by 57% compared with the previous Lunar New Year holiday, which ran from 28 January to 4 February in 2025. The figures are drawn from reservations at 1,727 hotels across Japan. A separate survey by Nikkei of ten Japanese hotel operators, conducted as of 15 December, painted a similar picture. Only two companies, Tokyu Hotels & Resorts and the Imperial Hotel, reported weaker demand, with both seeing bookings fall by about 10%.

Meanwhile, three hotel operators reported increases. Palace Hotel said reservations have doubled on the year. Five operators said reservations have not changed significantly. Five out of the 10 operators reported a rise in the average daily rate for rooms. According to Tripla, the average daily rate for the Lunar New Year break will climb to 22,004 yen ($140), or 21% higher compared with the year-earlier holiday. "Snow started falling early this year, and demand for skiing from around the world is pushing up overall unit prices," said Tripla CEO Kazuhisa Takahashi.

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" — Chinese Foreign Ministry Urges Japan to Ensure Safety

On the 26th, China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated that "crimes targeting Chinese nationals are occurring frequently in Japan" and called on the Japanese side to ensure the safety of Chinese citizens.

At an afternoon press conference on the same day, when asked about public safety in Japan, a spokesperson for the Chinese Foreign Ministry claimed that "in current Japanese society, crimes targeting Chinese nationals are occurring frequently." As an example, the spokesperson cited an incident in Chiyoda Ward, Tokyo, in which two men from Taiwan were beaten with iron pipes and injured, noting that five male suspects were arrested last week.

The spokesperson further emphasized that "there is a large amount of radical and threatening rhetoric against China on the Japanese internet," adding that "Chinese embassies and consulates in Japan have also repeatedly been harassed by Japanese right-wing groups."

On this basis, the Foreign Ministry stated that it "strongly urges the Japanese side to take China's concerns seriously and to ensure the safety of Chinese nationals in Japan as well as related institutions."

The Chinese government has previously described Japan's public security situation as "unstable" and has called on its citizens to refrain from traveling to or studying in Japan. In response, Japan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs last week released statistics on serious crimes in which Chinese nationals were victims and countered China's claims of deteriorating public safety in Japan, stating that "such assertions are unfounded."


Chinese citizens should place greater trust in the Chinese government and heed its warnings. They should refrain from traveling to Japan.

Ironically people from Taiwan aren't even Chinese nationals. Yet that's the best example they could find. Has motive for the attack been established?

More than half of hotel bookings made by Chinese travellers for the nine-day Lunar New Year holiday have been cancelled, an indication that the slowdown is beginning to weigh on parts of Japan's tourism sector. In central Osaka, one hotel reported that the share of Chinese guests this January slipped to 8%, down from nearly 30% a year earlier. Revenue at the property has fallen by about 10%. A representative said room rates across the city have been trending lower, putting additional pressure on earnings.

Elsewhere in Osaka, an inn near the Dotonbori shopping and entertainment district was only 76% booked for the holiday period as of Tuesday, with the break running through 23 February. Occupancy levels that would normally be expected to approach capacity have instead remained noticeably softer. Nationwide figures point in the same direction. Data from the reservation platform Tripla show that 53.6% of hotel bookings from China for the holiday window were cancelled, 14.9 percentage points higher than during the Lunar New Year period in 2025. By comparison, the overall cancellation rate across all markets stands at 25.1%, underscoring how sharply the decline among Chinese travellers now stands out.

Flights between Japan and mainland China during the Lunar New Year period will be down 31% from 2025, according to British aviation analytics firm Cirium. The number of available seats has shrunk 26%. The decline is particularly noticeable for flights taking off and arriving at airports in western Japan. At Osaka's Kansai International Airport, the number of passenger flights connecting to China in January was down 60% or so on the year. At the Tokyo area's Narita International Airport, flights from China fell 18% for December. A preliminary number for Jan. 1-24 showed a 27% decrease. While a portion of the demand is shifting to Japanese airlines, "passengers may be cancelling their trips after facing flight cancellations and significant increases in airfares," a Tripla representative said.

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