Japan's 50 biggest travel agencies saw sales of overseas trips during the April-September period drop 38.2 percent from a year earlier to 767.9 billion yen due to the SARS epidemic.
The Land, Infrastructure and Transport Ministry said Monday the fall was the sharpest for the first six months of a fiscal year since it began compiling the survey in 1994.
Sales started to decline in March as the war on Iraq broke out, and the subsequent spread of the severe acute respiratory syndrome epidemic, mainly in China, accelerated the fall, leading to a 54.9 percent plunge in May from the year-before level.
Demand for overseas trips later recovered somewhat, but sales in September were still 18.1 percent lower, the ministry said.
The half-year ministry report also showed a change in the rankings of travel agencies in terms of overseas trip sales, as H.I.S. Co. became the second-largest company after JTB Corp., surpassing Kinki Nippon Tourist Co.
JTB and Kinki Nippon, both long-standing firms with strength in selling package tours, saw their sales fall sharply during the first half, posting declines of more than 40 percent, suggesting reduced demand for such travel due to the war and the SARS epidemic.
In contrast, H.I.S., which has an edge on plans targeting independent travelers, suffered a milder 25.4 percent fall.