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19 Sep, 2012

Chinese Tour Operator Takes Japan Tours Off The Shelf

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Beijing, (People’s Daily Online) September 18, 2012 – China Comfort Travel Group Co., Ltd., one of the largest Japan tour wholesalers in China, halted its plan of transporting 50,000 tourists to Japan to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the normalization of China-Japan relations.

Chairman of China Comfort Travel Group Li Jilie said in an interview that the China Comfort Travel Group had informed its affiliated 220 companies and 5,500 stores to stop dealing with the products of touring Japan and abort group tours to the state. The reporter saw on its official website that as one of the largest Japan tour wholesalers in China, its outbound tourism list shows “zero routes” to Japan.

China Comfort Travel Group and its subsidiaries are one of the largest wholesalers for group tours to Japan, transporting a large number of visitors to Japan every year. In April 2012, the group announced that it will transport 50,000 visitors to Japan to commemorate the 40th anniversary of China-Japan relations.

Li said that the acts of the Japanese government are intolerant to every Chinese person, so the Japanese tourism products have to be stop sales. Less than eight minutes after the decision was made, its subsidiaries in Shanghai and other cities immediately expressed their full support for it.

On Sept. 12, the branch of China Comfort Travel Group in Sichuan announced “Emergency Notification on Stopping Sales of Japanese Tourism Products and Transportation of Tour Groups to Japan,” requiring its 55 operating departments and 150 stores to stop sales of Japanese tourism products and transportation of tour groups to the state since 12 a.m. of Sept. 12. The customers who have signed up to tour Japan can choose other outbound tourism products or cancel it, and all expenses will be returned to them.