Ahead of the peak summer season, travel prices to Japan have plummeted. With the spread of rumors of..

The number of tourists from China has also decreased significantly, and the cost has plummeted to one-fifth of the price, showing less than 100,000 won for round-trip tickets, so the hotel is also offering a half-price discount

사진 확대 Flights to Osaka and Tokyo are written on the electronic board of Gimpo Airport International Terminal. [Reporter Lee Seung Hwan]

Ahead of the peak summer season, travel prices to Japan have plummeted. With the spread of rumors of a major earthquake in July, the number of tourists from China, including Taiwan and Hong Kong, has decreased significantly, and the Japanese travel market, which had been on a roll, is showing signs of freezing as the Korean people have closed their travel plans one after another.

According to the aviation and travel industry on the 1st, round-trip tickets for low-cost airlines to Japan from late July to early August are sold below 100,000 won on the reservation platform. Considering that round-trip tickets between Seoul and Jeju are between 160,000 won and 170,000 won during the same period, you can travel to Japan at a half price.

사진 확대

In Fukuoka, which is frequently visited by Koreans due to its accessibility to hot spring areas such as Yufuin, the price of round-trip tickets from Incheon around July 20 is only 90,000 won.

The atmosphere is the same on weekends. On Saturday, July 19, if you take T’way Air to Fukuoka for two nights and three days or three nights and four days round trip, you can buy a ticket in the early 90,000 won range. This is one-fifth of the cost, which reached 400,000 won to 500,000 won per year.

The price of round-trip tickets to Osaka, which had been on a roll thanks to the Expo, has also been halved. For low-cost airlines such as Jeju Air and T’way from late July to early August, you can get flights at the desired time for 120,000 won to 130,000 won. The round-trip ticket to Tokyo, which used to be around 500,000 won to 600,000 won, is also around 160,000 won before July 20.

The hotel is also on a ‘half price’ sale. As of the end of July, a four-star hotel in Fukuoka can be found for 150,000 won for two people. In particular, hotels near Osaka, which once exceeded 1 million won per night, were also cut off by a third at 300,000 won to 400,000 won.

사진 확대 A photo postcard showing the street during the Great Kanto Earthquake [Photo = Independence Hall]

Japan’s travel expenses plunged due to ghost stories of the great earthquake in July. The epicenter of the July earthquake’s ghost story was Japanese cartoonist Tatsuki Ryo, who made headlines for predicting the Great East Japan Earthquake in March 2011. In the re-released book ‘The Future I Saw’ in 2021, a devastating tsunami hits Japan in July 2025. Ghost stories are spreading, claiming that a major earthquake will occur in 2025.

In fact, Taiwanese tourists have more than halved in the case of travel to Japan, and Hong Kongers who easily believe in superstitions have virtually fallen to zero. On top of that, as even Koreans’ travel sentiment to Japan slowed, Japanese travel prices, which soared to the Osaka Expo, turned to a sharp decline.

Rather, the “reverse idea” that now should be seen as a good time to travel to Japan is also gaining traction. It is pointed out that the July earthquake is just a ghost story from a cartoon story.

Shim Won-bo, CEO of Terra Tour, a Japanese travel agency, said, “If the cost of an air hotel is at this level, it can be seen as an all-time discount. “Now, when travel sentiment is frozen in the story from the cartoon, may be an opportunity,” he said.

[Shin Ik-su Travel Reporter]