Occupancy rate

When your business is heavily impacted by the rate of incoming foreign businessmen in Japan, the release of hotels occupancy rates is a major index of interest. You don't need the figures and be a great predicator to estimate that the 3.11 is having major impact for several professions where interacting with foreign visitors is centerpiece. Many of my current and past students in business consecutive interpretation class have the national guide certificate. Their guide business is dead, until it raises from death. They operate in a small niche for sure, the French speaking tourists mostly comprising French nationals travelling in groups, therefore senior tourists. April is a major touristic month in Japan with Japanese, and a growing number of foreign tourists over the years flocking in to see the cherry blossoms. For Western visitors, sultry Summer is another tourist season but we will have to wait until November, best among the best of times to be in Japan, to know how bad 2011 fared. Although I am not into touristic guiding except 2 or 3 times a year on a totally confidential basis, my business clients are usually staying at one of the 19 key higher end hotels in Tokyo that are the focus of the April census. The average occupancy rate was 40.5. It was 81.4 in April 2010. The New Otani was a low 20.4, down from 58.9 a year ago. In Osaka, the decrease is not that acute with 73.1, that is still a 10.8 % slip. More interesting is the 23.2% decline of the Osaka Imperial Hotel that usually caters for a 40% foreign guests pools. As with many other professional interaction with foreign visitors, business has never been in Osaka or anywhere else but in Tokyo. The Osaka figures are still harsh indicators of a harsh reality. Unsurprisingly, one business stream is directly related with the Fukushima mess mending where several foreign corporations are involved.