2025 Reports

Regional Impacts of International Tourism Boycott: A China-Japan Conflict

Greaney, Theresa M.; Kiyota, Kozo

We examine the regional impacts of a Sino-Japan territorial dispute that sparked a Chinese consumer boycott of travel to Japan from August, 2012. We find that the boycott caused large and regionally heterogenous effects in Japan. The boycott’s negative impacts are larger for Japanese prefectures with higher pre-boycott dependency on visitors, especially tourists, from China. While the intensity of the boycott effects is strongest within the first six months, we find significant negative impacts even when averaging across 24 months post-boycott. Our results demonstrate the importance of diversification across traveler types and countries of origin in providing travel services.

Keywords: Consumer boycott; Travel services trade; Tourism; Diaoyu/Senkaku Dispute; Regional impacts; Political conflict

JEL classification codes: F14, F51, F52, Z30