Coronavirus: in Hokkaido, Japan's luxury ski resorts say the snow must go on
Over Christmas 2019 and into the New Year, there was hardly a hotel room, chalet or high-end condominium to be had in the Hokkaido mountain town of Niseko. Restaurants were no longer taking bookings, drinkers spilled out the doors of packed bars - despite the sub-zero temperatures - and everyone looked forward to getting back on the slopes just as soon as the ski lifts started turning in the morning.
Today, a town widely recognised as having the best powder snow in the world - so perfect that they call it "Japow!" - is largely deserted.
A handful of skiers are descending the slopes of 1,308-metre Mt Niseko Annupuri, but there are no long lines waiting for the lifts. Cafes and bars that 15 months ago were doing a roaring lunchtime trade are empty of patrons, and some are in complete darkness. The town's famed apres-ski nightlife is a shadow of its former self.
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A skier descends a mountain slope with powder snow in Niseko, Japan. Photo: Corbis
Niseko's travel industry has been hit hard by the ban on foreign tourists entering Japan due to the coronavirus pandemic, while the hoped-for spike in domestic winter sports fans has failed to materialise and make up for the missing overseas visitors.
It is a similar story across the rest of a prefecture that relies heavily on tourism for its economy, with hotels, restaurants, bars and traditional "ryokan" inns all reporting a sharp decline in guests.
Yet the resilience and optimism that the industry is demonstrating, particularly at the luxury end of the market, is remarkable in its own right. In spite of what has been described as the most severe and prolonged global economic downturn in a century, operators say they know the visitors will be back - and they are confident they will return in even bigger numbers than previously.
It is an indication of just how much faith they have in the product.
Michael Chen, co-CEO of the H2 Group. Photo: Handout
"We were completely full all the way through February of last year, and then, almost overnight, it just went," said Michael Chen, co-CEO of the H2 Group, which owns and manages more than 150 luxury properties in and around Niseko.
The winter sports season was already coming to an end here when the pandemic became a global issue and the industry gritted its teeth through a "very tough" summer season in the hopes that the situation would be under control by the time the all-important winter rolled around again, Boston-born Chen said.
Instead, borders remained closed as the snow began to fall and - to make matters even worse - the Japanese government halted the Go To Travel campaign, providing subsidies designed to encourage people in Japan to take a domestic vacation, in November.
"The truly ironic thing is that we have had the best snow conditions for more than a decade," said Chen, indicating with a sweep of his hand a stunning vista of mountains that would make a powder fan drool.
And that is precisely why Chen, who lived in Hong Kong for 15 years, is really quite optimistic.
"I'm very confident about the future of Niseko and Hokkaido in general as a destination and this pause has actually given us an opportunity to better assess what is needed and to grow into a leader in the development of the property business here," he said.
HakuVillas is the most luxurious accommodation in Niseko and close to the winter sports action. Photo: Handout
The H2 Group's HakuLife Collection only caters to the needs of the most wealthy travellers, with a single night in the penthouse suite of the company's top-of-the-range, seven-bedroom HakuVillas costing a cool 3 million yen (US$27,700) a night. Even at that price point, there were no shortages of people more than happy to make a reservation.
HakuVillas and its sister property, Hakuchozan,are the only properties in Niseko which offer six-star service - including personal butlers, chefs and masseuse on 24-hour call, private onsen overlooking the slopes, an exercise room, helicopter transfers and a golf simulator that can replicate the conditions of 165 courses around the world - and it is this segment of the travelling public that Chen believes needs to be better catered to.
A single night in the penthouse suite of the company's top-of-the-range, seven-bedroom HakuVillas costs a cool 3 million yen (US$27,700) a night. Photo: Handout
Chen is careful not to identify his clients, but they include Silicon Valley billionaires and the wealthiest businesspeople from Europe and Asia, with around 80 per cent arriving at Sapporo's New Chitose Airport by private jet and as many as half from China, Hong Kong or Macau, he estimates.
And whisper it quietly, as she likes her privacy, but Lady Gaga has a pad not too far away.
"I think that people who come to Niseko for the first time - people who have skied all over the world and experienced the facilities in Whistler or Courchevel or St Moritz - are simply astonished by the conditions and facilities here," Chen said.
"The 'champagne powder' is one thing, of course, but first-time visitors quickly fall in love with the culture, the cuisine, the atmosphere, in part because it's so different to what they are used to," he said.
Kaori Inoue heads the International Promotion Department of the Hokkaido Tourism Organisation and agrees that her home prefecture has world-beating travel options, but the challenges of the last year have been unprecedented.
From dozens of weekly inbound international flights before the pandemic, from Hong Kong, Taiwan, China, Australia and Europe, the number has fallen to zero today. In January 2020, more than 191,000 foreign tourists arrived in Hokkaido; that number fell to 93,520 in February, a mere 46 per cent of the same month one year previously, as public fears over the worsening health crisis increased.
Night skiing in Niseko Village, Japan. Photo: Shutterstock Images
Between April and the end of December 2020, just 12 foreign tourists arrived in the prefecture.
"We have been working hard on our digital promotion campaigns, targeting the markets that are particularly important to us, like Taiwan and Hong Kong, and working with social influencers to communicate the message that we're still here, that Hokkaido is going to be ready to welcome them just as soon as the travel restrictions are lifted and that this is still a great destination."
Inoue is confident the sector will bounce back swiftly and that frequent international travellers who have been frustrated for more than a year by their inability to go anywhere will have been squirrelling away their spending money and plotting their next vacations. And they will want to splurge as soon as they can, she said.
Five years ago, Tomoyuki Takao founded Takao, the only restaurant in Hokkaido to have been recognised by the prestigious Gault & Millau restaurant guide.
Takao blends European cuisine with his own unique take on Hokkaido cuisine, much of it derived from tramping the prefecture's forests with indigenous Ainu people to learn about the herbs, spices and other ingredients they traditionally use.
"Before the pandemic, I would say that around 20 per cent of our guests were from overseas, but now 90 per cent of people are from here in Hokkaido and the remainder are visitors from Tokyo or other parts of Japan," he said.
Founded by Tomoyuki Takao, the high-end restaurant Takao is the only restaurant in Hokkaido to have been recognised by the prestigious Gault & Millau restaurant guide. Photo: Handout
"Now, I am concentrating on developing original dishes and tastes that use local ingredients and using social media to communicate that our methods here are unique in Hokkaido and Japan," he said. "I really want to get the message of Hokkaido gastronomy across to a wider audience."
Takao believes it may take some time for travellers to rediscover the confidence to resume international journeys, but believes the luxury end of the market - typically his client base - will recover faster. As a consequence, he feels that the prefecture and its tourism industry should do more to focus on this segment.
Sayaka Hamano's family have owned and operated the Kashogyoen traditional ryokan, 20km west of Sapporo, since the 1960s. With only 23 rooms, each with a private onsen, and a restaurant set amid gardens that are stunning in the spring and summer but snowbound in the winter months, Kashogyoen was quickly able to angle its target audience away from foreign visitors to Hokkaido in favour of more domestic travellers.
"It is an expensive hotel, but we have always been very popular with foreign visitors, especially people from China during the Lunar New Year holiday," Hamano said. "And Hokkaido in general has a long history of tourism, with people coming here for the beautiful natural scenery, the clean air and local wildlife."
Kashogyoen is a traditional ryokan with only 23 rooms, each with a private onsen, set amid gardens that are stunning in the spring and summer but snowbound in the winter months. Photo: Julian Ryall
Seeking a way to communicate that the ryokan takes the health of its guests very seriously, Hamano said Kashogyoen took good care of both visitors and its staff, with everyone encouraged to wash their hands frequently and use sanitisers, while employees' health was constantly monitored.
"I think the budget end of the market and group tours from overseas may take as much as three years to fully recover," Hamano said. "But more people from other parts of Asia are travelling independently and I believe that sector will be the first to come back, probably as soon as late this year."
Julian Ryall travelled to Hokkaido with an association of private companies in the travel and tourism sector
This article originally appeared on the South China Morning Post (SCMP).
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