Kyoto is the former capital of Japan and considered one of the most stunning world heritage sites to visit. Typically this location is filled with thousands of tourists from across the globe, with this being halted throughout since January. This followed with the coronavirus outbreak from China, which has seen countless visitors cancel their trips with Kyoto. Representatives from the famous city have stated that the historic streets are empty, which is leading them to begin a new marketing campaign. It’ll focus on Kyoto’s stunning destinations and the zero concern for risk of infection.
Numerous merchants approached these representatives in the Arashiyama Neighbourhood in Kyoto, which compiled the five most famous shopping streets in this city. It’s located on the Western Outskirts, where local shrines and temples can be found in this overpopulated tourist destination. The merchants demanded that an advertising campaign be launched, which is being named Suitemasu Arashiyama. When looking at the English translation, it roughly means that there’s nobody located in the Kyoto shopping centre. The posters being released worldwide to tourist booking firms indicate that travellers would have an entire city to themselves. Four of the most notable tourist locations in Kyoto, which includes Arashiyama, are plastered onto the poster without any tourists to be found.
Asia-Wide Tourism Numbers Falling
The UNESCO World Heritage Site Association lists Kyoto as one of seventeen locations, making it one of the most popular destinations for daily tourists across the globe. This location was already facing declining tourism numbers with regular headlines relating to lousy behaviour and scamming tactics. Individuals travelling to this location have also been banned from taking photographs, which followed after tourists took pictures of Geishas. The announcement that tourists couldn’t take photographs saw an immediate decline of 15% in tourist numbers, with the coronavirus adding 80% to that figure.
This means that Kyoto is experiencing 95% less than the average tourism levels seen throughout the first quarter in 2020. It should be noted that all popular destinations for travelling in Asia have experiences dwindling tourist activity. It’s expected that the Japanese Tourism Industry will lose $1.3 billion throughout the January to March period. This could extend by an additional $2 billion without the coronavirus being exterminated by March-end. Those wanting to travel to these locations will be hard-pressed to locate flights, with Airlines cancelling countless trips to Asian territories like Japan and the Philippines.