Japan offers tourists free airfare

Japan's beleaguered tourism officials are pulling out all the stops to get foreigners to return to their accident prone country.

Japan's Tourism Authority announced this week it is giving away 10,000 free flights in a contest that requires winners to write positive things about their visit to a country that has seen its fair share of disasters in recent years - culminating in this past spring's earthquake/tsunami that caused over 20,000 deaths and billions in damages.

Since the earthquake/tsunami, Japan has experienced a 50 per cent drop in tourism and a 47 per cent decline in foreign tourist spending.

The airfare giveaway - you have to submit an application online to get one - will be launched in April 2012 -  with lots of hoopla and help from Hollywood types - and will cost the Japanese government $14.3 million U.S. Winners are responsible for their own lodging, food and ancillary expenses.

Japan needs our help so let's hope this free airfare promotion works - I know I'm going to apply!

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Late breaking travel news

Here’s some travel tidbits I came across today while scanning the Internet:

LONDON: The final piece of turf has been laid on the field of play in the Olympic Stadium, marking completion of construction of the venue. Construction started on the Stadium just under three years ago in May 2008 and has been completed on time, under budget and with an exemplary safety record.

THAILAND: Hundreds of tourists are stranded on the popular Thai resort island of Koh Samui following a torrential downpour. Flights from the island have been suspended indefinitely, with a number of British tourists among those affected.

LONDON: EasyJet, the UK’s largest airline, has formed a partnership with VisitBritain, the UK’s national tourism agency, to jointly market Britain as a tourist destination over the next four years. The deal between the two parties is worth over about $25 million in cash and marketing in kind, and will help boost visitor numbers to the country and capitalize on the unique opportunities provided by the impending Royal Wedding, the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee and 2012 London Games.

WASHINGTON: Despite the lingering effects of the recession, the hotel business actually started coming back to life last year. According to a Hotels.com report released last week, the average cost of a hotel room rose 2 per cent in 2010, the first time it’s risen, year over year, since 2007.

TOKYO: Business travel to Japan has largely dried up in the wake of the earthquake, tsunami and nuclear reactor crisis there, and industry experts do not expect it to bounce back until the nuclear problems have been solved. Corporate-related travel to Japan has plummeted 80 per cent since the earthquake, estimates Andrew W. Menkes, chief executive of Partnership Travel Consulting, a Princeton, N.J.-based firm that helps companies manage their travel and entertainment expenses. Business travellers have canceled their trips, he said, “because of potential exposure to radiation, challenges with the transportation and ground infrastructure, and lack of hotel space.”

Tourism favourites in “no fly zone”

Tourism is always a victim of global events.

No one is going to Japan on holidays right now – and probably won’t for a long time to come.

Events in the Middle East – an uprising in Egypt; civil war in Libya; riots in Bahrain; car bombs in Jerusalem – have all but stopped tourism to that part of the world.

Security concerns caused by the ongoing drug war in Mexico have drastically reduced tourism to that nation.

So many tourism favourites seem to be caught in a no-fly zone right now.

However, there are still save havens and let’s face it, Canadians aren’t going to stop travelling.

So here’s the five destinations I’m recommending you consider this summer – and let’s hope “events” don’t disrupt life in these places:

1- Canada: There’s no safer place in the world right now – and there lots to see and do on home turf.

2- The U.S.: States like Florida and Arizona are great summer values – if you can stand the heat.

3- Asia: China and Indochina are the greatest travel bargains on the planet right now.

4- Europe: Just stay out of the big cities like London and Paris –rural Europe has a lot to offer and it’s much cheaper.

5- The Caribbean: Warm sunny days are guaranteed and summer is the off-season there, meaning really cheap flights and hotels.

Hong Kong screens airline passengers for radiation in wake of Japan leaks

I just arrived in Hong Kong and it’s like stepping back in time – to the time of SARS and Bird Flu. Air passengers are once again being greeted by masked security and health officials.

Hong Kong health officials appear to be monitoring arriving passengers, especially those from Japan, for radiation. So far, Hong Kong officials have not detected any abnormal rates of radiation on passengers or planes landing here.

However, Taiwan officials reportedly discovered at least one passenger arriving in Taipei had higher than normal levels of radiation on his clothing and that touched off alarm bells in this former British colony.

Taiwan tourism is bracing for a major hit thanks to the problems in Japan. Over one million Japanese visited Taiwan last year but because of the ongoing troubles caused by the earthquake, tsunami and the ongoing nuclear radiation leaks and the economic fallout that is sure to follow, Taiwanese officials are expecting much fewer Japanese to take holidays there in the next few years.

In China, meanwhile, panic buying has broken out for of all things salt. Rumors that sea salt in Japan, a major supplier for Chinese tables, will be contaminated for many years to come sent Chinese consumers rushing to supermarkets and they quickly cleaned out salt and soya sauce shelves.

I'm heading to Beijing over Japan

I'm off to Beijing Friday (March 18) and no I'm not worried about being exposed to high levels of radiation from those leaky Japanese nuclear reactors.

Anyone heading to China, or anywhere else in Asia for that matter, should not be worried about being contaminated because the infected plume of smoke from those damaged reactors will likely hit the West Coast of North America before it hits anywhere in Asia thanks to wind patterns.

My Cathay Pacific flight will probably fly right over Japan and at 35,000 feet, I'm not a bit worried.

I appreciate why people are nervous about travelling to Japan and completely understand why many Canadians who scheduled trips to that unfortunate nation in the next few weeks have cancelled or postponed their departures.

However, why do people assume what happens in Japan is happening elsewhere in Asia?

Did we all fail geography? Japan is an island unto itself, literally, and Tokyo is over 2,100 km from Beijing. Vietnam, Thailand and Singapore are even further away. Even Japan's closest neighbour South Korea is not in danger.

I'll report back daily so stay tuned!