Japan’s Hokkaido airport ＂woos＂ Korean tourists： widening banners and sending snacks.

Hokkaido staff give small gifts to Korean tourists (Japan’s "Daily News")

　　Overseas network August 20 th Recently, the trade disputes between Japan and South Korea have intensified, and bilateral relations have been deteriorating, which has a great impact on Japanese tourism. On the 19th, related groups in Hokkaido, Japan hung up big banners with the words "Welcome to Hokkaido" in Korean at new chitose airport and Asahikawa airports, and also presented snacks and souvenirs to Koreans in the hope of "wooing" Korean tourists.

　　According to Japan’s "Daily News" reported on the 20th, before the deterioration of Japan-ROK relations, Koreans were the second largest number of foreign tourists visiting Hokkaido, second only to Chinese. Now, many Korean airlines have grounded flights to Japan and cut flights to Japan, which has dealt a huge blow to Japanese tourism. Hokkaido hopes to restore the impression of Korean tourists on Japan with "sincere service".

　　On the 19th, 10 staff members of the municipal governments of three cities in Hokkaido stood in front of the arrival gate on the second floor of the international line terminal and distributed small gifts to Koreans. Besides snacks, souvenirs such as paper fans and brochures were also distributed. On the front of the paper fan is written "Thank you for coming, please enjoy your happy trip" in Korean, and on the back is written "Welcome to Hokkaido" in English.

　　A female tourist from Busan, South Korea, smiled and told reporters that she was "looking forward to drinking beer in Hokkaido". She said that she had been to Japan several times before, but this time she came secretly. She also lamented that "I wonder if Japan-ROK relations can be improved".

Korean travel bloggers tore up tickets to Japan worth nearly 8,000 yuan.

　　According to Hokkaido, Korean Air, Han Xing Airlines and other airlines have suspended flights or cut flights, with 70 flights to be reduced in September and 60 flights to be reduced in October. According to the Japan Hotel Association Hokkaido Branch Federation, although the detailed data of this summer have not been counted, the number of foreign tourists staying in hotels in Hokkaido in July was only about 150,000, a decrease of 10% compared with the same period of the previous year. Hotels and hotels in Hokkaido have also received calls from Koreans to cancel their reservations.

　　It is reported that the number of Koreans who came to Hokkaido has increased every year. In 2017, there were 639,400 people, a 40-fold increase in 20 years. However, according to the current situation, the number will decrease sharply. Sugarashi omichi, Governor of Hokkaido, said: "It is very important to accumulate exchanges at the regional level. One more person is good, and I hope to win as many Koreans as possible to travel to Hokkaido. "

　　According to a report published by a Korean think tank, if the number of Korean tourists visiting Japan is reduced by 80%, Japan’s economic growth rate will drop by 0.1 percentage point in 2020, and the losses caused by Japanese tourism will be twice that of South Korea. The report also predicts that the number of Korean tourists visiting Japan will decrease by 81.7% by next year (2020). (Wang Shanning)