People walk along Takeshita Street in the Harajuku shopping area in Tokyo on Aug 10, 2024. (Photo: Reuters)
Hong Kong travellers continue to favour Japan as a holiday destination despite ongoing geopolitical tensions between Beijing and Tokyo, thanks to unaffected flight routes and a weaker yen, local industry operators have said.
Travel agencies also identified mainland China as the top destination for Hong Kong travel groups, as they gathered at an exhibition on Thursday to promote packages for the coming spring season.
Beijing recently issued a warning to its citizens, cautioning them against travelling to Japan during the coming Lunar New Year holiday, as the row over Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s November comments about Taiwan rumbled on.
State broadcaster CCTV reported that February flights along 49 routes between China and Japan had been cancelled.
However, Moon Yau Moon-yee, assistant general manager at Sunflower Travel Services and vice-chairman of the Tourism Industry Employees’ General Union, said Hong Kong tour groups bound for Japan were largely unaffected by the tensions.
Flights from the city to Japan have not been affected, Yau said, adding that the weaker yen has further encouraged Hongkongers to spend there.
“Hong Kong residents’ enthusiasm for travelling to Japan has never faded,” he said. “Meanwhile, when flights from mainland China were cancelled, some travellers across the border would choose to fly from Hong Kong as flights here are not affected.”
Yau was speaking while attending the Hong Kong Holiday and Travel Expo, which runs from Thursday to Sunday.
While noting that around 70% of Hong Kongers travelled to Japan on their own, Yau said the mainland has become the top destination for his travel agency, with Xinjiang drawing the most interest, followed by Yunnan.
Another exhibitor, Wing On Travel, also said it did not see a decline in customer appetite for Japan-bound trips.
“This year we did receive more inquiries for long-haul mainland and South Korea trips, but there is no significant drop in [inquiries for] Japan,” a spokeswoman for the agency told the South China Morning Post.
At the expo, Wing On Travel was promoting packages for departures during the Lunar New Year holiday, as well as cherry blossom tours to Wuhan in central China, South Korea and Japan, the spokeswoman added.
Optimism was also shared by Okini Home, a Hong Kong-based holiday home rental platform under FM Investment Group.
The platform manages bookings for around 800 flats in Osaka and had gained around 500 new users from the expo as of Thursday afternoon.
“Impacts from politics are temporary,” said Amous Lee, CEO and a founding partner of the group, projecting that demand from Hong Kong tourists would remain consistently strong.
According to the Japan National Tourism Organisation, more than 2.5 million Hong Kong residents visited the country in 2025, a 6.2% drop from the previous year.
The number of Hong Kong tourists to Japan plunged by nearly 37% in July 2025 after rumours spread that a major earthquake was imminent.
At the expo’s opening ceremony, Secretary for Culture, Sports and Tourism Rosanna Law Shuk-pui projected an uptake in both inbound and outbound travel for the coming year.
“With the opening of the third runway of the Hong Kong airport, our flights have recovered to 81% of the 2018-19 level. Looking into this year, this number would further rebound to 86%,” she said.
“This will not only attract more travellers to Hong Kong, but will also bring more choices to our travel-loving residents.”
AloJapan.com