Boat charter operator Tokyo Water Taxi started
on the city’s waterfront in 2015, when hopes
were high for cashing in on the booming
tourism trade. With the variant pushing the
return of foreign visitors far into the future, the
company is trying to look on the bright side.
“It’s growing popular with Tokyo residents, who
have lost other ways to entertain themselves,”
said company spokeswoman Yuha Inoue.
In Europe, Alpine ski resorts worry about how to
keep up with requirements such as ensuring all
skiers are vaccinated or recovered from infection
and have tested negative for the virus.
Matthias Stauch, head of the German ski lift
operators association VDS, said many are small
family businesses that lack the staff to perform
such checks. Meanwhile, the association is
warning about “massive” economic damage to
the tourism sector if there is another lockdown.
Travel executives argue that government
decisions about restrictions should wait until
more is known about omicron, but they admit
it’s a difficult call.
“If you wait, by the time you have all the data
it’s probably too late to stop community spread
because (the virus) is already here,” said Robert
Jordan, the incoming CEO at Southwest Airlines.
“If you jump ahead, you run the risk of the
measures being more impactful than the
actual cases.”
About a month ago, Javier Barragan and his
husband booked a visit to Paris for later this
month. When news of omicron hit, they were
concerned but decided to go ahead with
the trip.