Plans for hotel ships to dock in Tokyo Bay during the Olympics and Paralympics has reached an impasse, it has been learned. One of the reasons that was cited is the companies that operate the ships withdrew from the project after the Games were postponed as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. Four local governments intended to host such ships.
A hotel ship is a cruise ship anchored at a port and serves as an alternative to a hotel on land. Guests of the hotel ship would have access to such amenities as restaurants and a swimming pool. It was expected to be a solution for the increase in the number of tourists coming to see the Games. For Vancouver 2010, 190,000 tourists stayed on hotel ships, resulting in it being used during London 2012, Sochi 2014 and Rio de Janeiro 2016.
JTB Corp., a major travel agency, announced in June 2018 that it would sell vacation packages, which included tickets to see Olympic and Paralympic events, for a hotel ship at Yamashita Pier at Yokohama Port. The company chartered the large cruise ship Sun Princess, which has a total length of about 260 meters and has 1,011 guest rooms. Yokohama City, which manages the port, included extra security costs for the area around the ship in its initial budget for fiscal 2020.
However, in March 2020, the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics were postponed, and the hotel ship project was canceled for last summer. Yokohama City and JTB have decided not to have a hotel ship this summer as well. The operator of the Sun Princess announced the ship was to be sold.
"It's a shame the hotel ship project was canceled because it might have become part of the legacy of the Tokyo Games," a JTB spokesperson said.
The Tokyo metropolitan government had also planned to host a hotel ship at the Tokyo International Cruise Terminal in Koto Ward.
An official of the metropolitan government's Bureau of Port and Harbor said: "The coronavirus crisis has made it difficult to accept foreign cruise ships. We are not currently looking for [cruise ship] operators for this summer."
Meanwhile, Kawasaki City officials signed a memorandum with a Hong Kong company, which operates cruise ships, on March 2019 to have a hotel ship at the Port of Kawasaki. However, the city abandoned the project because the parties involved could not come to an agreement about such matters as how to transport guests from the port to the city center, as well as how to dispose of wastewater generated on the ship. City officials were not able to find another operator.
Kisarazu City in Chiba Prefecture was planning to carry out a similar project at Kisarazu Port. The city made an agreement with a local shipping company to help assist if a fire were to break out while a hotel ship was docked. However, the city government could not find a cruise ship operator.
Before the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics were postponed, it was expected to attract about 10 million people, both domestically and internationally.
The central government has developed policies to promote the use of hotel ships, which are said to be suitable to accommodate a temporary increase in tourists.
"[Hotel ships] are expected to be used for large-scale events held in various locations in the future," said an officer of the Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism Ministry.
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