It is very likely that this time the Hokkaido capital will see much fewer visitors than last year's record 2.74 million – China's ban on group travel due to the virus outbreak resulted in a mass cancellation of hotel bookings and a sharp dip in visitors numbers.
Another difficulty the organizers had to face this year is the lack of snow – the snowfall has been quite low since the end of last year hence it took some efforts to procure the snow to create the giant snow and ice carvings that are the centerpiece of the festival. Every day, 120 trucks were deployed to deliver snow to the festival area – twice as many as usually.
Currently there are about 200 sculptures of various sizes and shapes on display at three venues.
While not only foreign visitors but also Japanese tourists are avoiding crowds this year over fears of getting infected, the organizing committee installed antiseptic dispensers at the venues and ensured announcements in Japanese, English and Chinese to call on visitors to wear masks among other measures to prevent infection.
Sapporo Snow Festival Opens as Scheduled
News in Asia
It is a bright spot amid the coronavirus outbreak hysteria – Sapporo's Snow Festival in Japan kicked off today as planned. And it is probably a great time to visit right now as crowds are thinner than usually.