Absence of Foreign Fans in Tokyo Games Seen Affecting Economy

Tokyo, March 20 (Jiji Press)--The decision not to accept overseas spectators for this summer's Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics amid the novel coronavirus pandemic is expected to hit the tourism and other industries in Japan hard. Impacts on consumption could be greater also because the Tokyo Games organizing committee and others concerned are seen considering capping the number of domestic spectators for the sporting events. "We don't expect to have any foreign visitors for a while," a tourism industry worker said. Many people in the industry had hoped to leverage the Olympic and Paralympic Games to boost demand from foreign visitors. But the continuing spread of the coronavirus has dashed such hopes. According to Masaki Kuwahara, senior economist at Nomura Securities Co.'s financial and economic research institute, people who visit Japan during the Olympic and Paralympic period would spend a total of 240 billion yen on tourism and purchases of goods related to the games, based on assumptions by the Tokyo Games organizing committee and data from international events held in the past. But the amount will be zero following the decision not to allow overseas spectators for the Tokyo Games, which was made at a videoconference on Saturday among top-level officials of the organizing committee, the Tokyo metropolitan government, the Japanese government, the International Olympic Committee and the International Paralympic Committee. Although the exclusion of overseas spectators is unlikely to have a major impact on Japan's total real gross domestic product, the institute said in its latest forecast that real GDP of the country will recover to levels before the coronavirus outbreak in January-March 2022, three months later than previously forecast by the think tank. Yutaro Suzuki, economist at Daiwa Institute of Research Ltd., said that the absence of spectators from abroad will reduce opportunities for Japan to help the world know its attractions. Olympics and Paralympics sponsor companies are worried. "We had hoped that the Tokyo Games would be held with spectators from both Japan and abroad, but it (the decision to exclude overseas spectators) cannot be helped," an official of a sponsor company said. An official of another company warned that the lack of overseas spectators may make people less interested in the events. END