Sunday, June 15, 2025
Japan’s southern tourism sector is facing a sudden wave of mass cancellations after Hong Kong Airlines abruptly suspended all flights to Kagoshima and Kumamoto for July and August 2025, responding to a popular prophecy predicting a major summer earthquake. The supernatural forecast, widely circulated across Asia, has caused fear-driven changes in travel behavior, triggering a collapse in bookings and forcing the airline to pull its routes despite no scientific evidence supporting the prediction. As superstition overrides data, tourism-dependent regions in southern Japan now grapple with economic fallout and uncertain recovery.
A wave of mass travel cancellations is disrupting Japan’s southern tourism sector, following an unexpected decision by Hong Kong Airlines to suspend all flights to Kagoshima and Kumamoto during July and August 2025. The cancellations come in response to a popular and widely circulated prophecy predicting a massive earthquake in Japan this summer, triggering fear-driven changes in travel behavior across Asia.
The drastic route suspension underscores how deeply cultural beliefs and superstition can influence tourism trends in the region—even in the absence of scientific evidence. While local tourism boards work to assure travelers of safety, the impact on visitor arrivals and local economies is already being felt.
Flights Canceled Amid Declining Demand
Hong Kong Airlines confirmed that it has pulled all scheduled summer flights to Kagoshima and Kumamoto, citing a significant drop in passenger demand. This move follows a sharp decrease in bookings linked directly to the viral circulation of an old psychic prediction that a catastrophic natural disaster will strike Japan in mid-2025.
The two Japanese cities, located in the southern region of Kyushu, had been experiencing strong growth in tourist arrivals since the lifting of pandemic-related travel restrictions. In fact, Hong Kong Airlines had only reinstated the Kagoshima route in 2024 after a four-year hiatus and increased flight frequencies in late 2024 due to high demand. However, this summer’s forecast of doom has caused a reversal.
With the flights now removed from booking platforms and summer travel plans in limbo, both Japanese tourism officials and travel operators are scrambling to respond to the sudden and unexpected downturn.
The Earthquake Prophecy That Sparked Regional Panic
At the heart of the cancellations lies a popularized psychic prediction made in 1999, forecasting a major earthquake and tsunami to hit Japan in July 2025. While such predictions have no scientific basis, this particular prophecy has gained traction after being credited with “predicting” the devastating 2011 Tohoku earthquake.
The forecast has gone viral across parts of Asia—especially in Hong Kong, mainland China, Taiwan, and Southeast Asia—where spiritual beliefs and superstitions are culturally significant. As a result, tens of thousands of travelers who were planning to visit southern Japan this summer have now either postponed or cancelled their trips entirely.
The prophecy’s popularity, amplified through social media and regional news coverage, has sparked widespread fear, despite official reassurances from Japanese authorities. For many travelers in Asia, these supernatural predictions carry real emotional weight, leading to a dramatic collapse in outbound travel to the affected region.
Japan’s Southern Tourism Faces Sharp Decline
The tourism industry in Kagoshima and Kumamoto—heavily dependent on foreign visitors—has been hit hard. Tour operators, hotel owners, and regional tourism offices are witnessing a dramatic drop in bookings at what would normally be the busiest time of the year.
Local officials are expressing concern that the continued spread of this unfounded prophecy could have long-term effects on the local economy, especially as southern Japan relies on inbound tourism to sustain hospitality businesses during the summer season.
Hotel room occupancy rates have reportedly dropped significantly in recent weeks, and many accommodations are now offering steep discounts in a bid to attract domestic tourists. While local authorities remain hopeful for a late-season rebound, the short-term financial blow is already severe.
Official Responses: No Scientific Basis for Concern
Japan’s national tourism bodies have firmly denied the legitimacy of the earthquake prediction, emphasizing that there is no credible evidence or scientific model supporting the possibility of a catastrophic seismic event in July 2025. Authorities have encouraged travelers to rely on official information from recognized agencies, such as Japan’s Meteorological and Earthquake Research Institutions.
Experts in seismology maintain that predicting a specific earthquake months or years in advance is not possible with current scientific capabilities. Still, the persistent circulation of this rumor continues to have more influence than expert reassurances.
Despite the science, Hong Kong Airlines and other carriers are making decisions based on real-time market behavior. The airline’s suspension of routes reflects not only a precautionary business response to weak demand, but also a broader acknowledgment of how cultural perceptions can affect travel at scale.
Superstition and the Travel Industry
In many Asian societies, spiritual beliefs, astrology, and prophetic warnings are often respected and even consulted in decision-making processes, including travel planning. This is not the first time that airline operations or travel patterns have been influenced by superstition, but the current situation stands out due to the scale of disruption and the fact that scheduled flights were removed entirely due to a prophecy.
The popularity of such predictions—often seen as fringe or mystical in other parts of the world—can create ripple effects across economic sectors when amplified by media, public sentiment, and uncertainty.
In this case, what began as an old, obscure forecast has translated into real-world economic and logistical disruption, underscoring the unique challenges faced by the travel industry in navigating cultural belief systems.
Looking Ahead: Will Flights Resume?
It remains uncertain whether Hong Kong Airlines will reinstate the suspended routes later this year. Much depends on whether public sentiment recovers and whether tourism demand rebounds after the predicted time frame passes without incident.
Regional tourism bodies are continuing their outreach efforts, hoping to rebuild traveler confidence and reinforce the message that Japan remains a safe and welcoming destination. For now, though, the prophecy’s influence has left a noticeable mark on Japan’s southern tourism.
Japan’s southern tourism has been hit by mass cancellations after Hong Kong Airlines suspended summer flights to Kagoshima and Kumamoto due to a viral earthquake prophecy. Despite lacking scientific proof, the widespread belief in the prediction has caused panic across Asia, leading to a sharp drop in travel demand.
Conclusion
The cancellation of Hong Kong Airlines’ flights to Kagoshima and Kumamoto—driven by a prophecy, not a forecast—has created a perfect storm of superstition, travel disruption, and economic fallout. As hotel bookings fall, airline routes vanish, and tourism dollars disappear, this bizarre episode stands as a powerful example of how fear, even when unproven, can reshape real-world markets. The hospitality and travel sectors in southern Japan now face the difficult task of weathering this unexpected storm—and rebuilding the confidence of travelers who’ve turned away out of fear, not fact.
