Japan's tourism industry begins to feel pain of Iran war

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Despite a record number of foreign tourists last month, the economic impact of the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran is starting to hit Japan's inbound tourism industry, as travelers from Europe cancel their reservations and uncertainty grows as to whether they'll reschedule in the coming months.

With the war ongoing and the Strait of Hormuz closed, travel between Europe and Japan has grown more expensive. As a number of airlines that fly between popular European cities to Japan via the Middle East have canceled such flights, there has been increased demand for direct routes at a time when airlines are increasing airfare due to surging oil prices.

The result has been cancellations in parts of the country particularly popular with Europeans. In the Hida-Takayama region of Gifu Prefecture, at the base of the Japanese Alps and near the Shirakawa-go historic village, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, about 4,000 hotel and inn cancellations, mostly from European guests, have been received since the war began on Feb. 28.