Kinki Nippon Tourist Co. and Nippon Travel Agency, the nation's second- and third-largest travel agencies, announced Monday that they have canceled a merger plan for January 2003 due to ramifications of the Sept. 11 attacks in the United States.
The two companies said that the September attacks hurt the travel industry so badly that the two firms now don't have sufficient financial strength to finance the merger.
"From now on, each company will focus on rebuilding its own basic business," said Hideo Takahashi, president of Kinki Nippon Tourist during a news conference in Tokyo.