This is the data visualization and analysis of COVID-19 pandemic and Japanese hotel industry.
Questions:
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How did the COVID-19 pandemic affect the number of domestic and foreign tourists?
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How has the COVID-19 epidemic affected each of the accommodations?
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What is the relationship between the number of tourists and the prevalence of COVID-19?
1. How did the COVID-19 pandemic affect the number of domestic and foreign tourists?
Graph 01 shows that the number of foreign tourists had been increasing strikingly until 2019, then declined sharply in 2020, and seemingly almost none in 2021. Since also the number of Japanese tourists decreased in 2020 and 2021, the Japanese hotel industry must have been severely damaged.
2. How has the COVID-19 epidemic affected each of the accommodations?
Graph 02 indicate that, on average, the room occupancy rate dropped from 63% in 2019 to 35% in 2020 and 2021.
While business hotels still hold above 43%, city hotels dropped from 80% to 35%, and other types of accommodations have lost around half of their customers.
3. What is the relationship between the number of tourists and the prevalence of COVID-19?
Graph 03 shows both the numbers of overnight stays and the number of COVID-19 cases in 2020 and 2021.
Although it is not possible to explain all the relevant factors here, the following three facts have influenced these figures.
- Seasonal trends in the Japanese hotel industry: the number of stays increases in May and April, July and August, and December and January.
- Japan experienced four big waves of COVID-19, which is shown clearly in Graph 03.
- From May 2020 to December 2020, the Japanese government implemented a new policy to support the tourism industry called the “GO TO” policy. As a result, the number of domestic tourists increased to some extent.
Let’s look at how this happened chronologically. The first wave had relatively few infected people, and the number of stays increased during the “GO TO” policy period, but stopped in December 2020.
Then there was the second wave, but the number of stays rose slightly again in March 2021, perhaps for the regular seasonal reason.
The third wave began in April 2021 and ended in June 2021. The forth wave was from July to October 2021, and after that the number of overnight stays increased, probably due to the regular seasonal reason.