Snow adds to quake woes, but some businesses see a rebound.

NIIGATA-Although the travel industry is slowly bouncing back, tourism officials here are still struggling to attract visitors to areas devastated by the Oct. 23 Niigata Chuetsu Earthquake.

The recovery has been hampered by the region's heaviest snowfall in 19 years.

In Yuzawa, reservations were canceled one after another following the quake. Even the town's largest hotel, NASPA New Otani Resort, capable of rooming 1,000 guests, was not spared the ill fate. Its November occupancy rate fell to 38 percent of the previous year's.

According to a hotel official, visitors gradually began to increase from January after the hotel launched a joint-promotional campaign with a Tokyo-based travel agency. As a result, its January occupancy rate recovered to 85 percent of the previous year's.

Others also have had some good luck.

In February, the number of visitors at a hotel-run ski resort here exceeded 3,000 in a single day for the first time in the season. And during the last weekend in February, the number of visitors matched the total for the same period in the previous year.

Hotel Sakadojo in Minami-Uonuma saw a 20-percent reduction in its monthly lodgers in January from the same period last year. However, by the next month it surged back.

The hotel started offering one-day trips for visitors to enjoy local cuisine in late January. It lured about 3,000 people, mainly from the Tokyo metropolitan area by the end of February, officials said.

``Tourists seemed to hesitate to visit out of consideration for victims right after the earthquake,'' said hotel president Terumasa Hoshino. ``But that mood is gradually fading.''

Blessed with good weather in mid-February, a record 90,000 flocked to the Minami-Uonuma Snow Festival.

Full-scale recovery, however, is still far off, tourism officials said.

In addition to the ever-decreasing numbers of skiers in recent years, the impression that the area is still dangerous lingers.

A Muikamachi Minami Ski resort worker bemoaned the misconception. Some guests cancel their reservations after hearing about jolts even as far away as Hokkaido or Kanto, he said.

This year, continuous heavy snowfall blanketed the area, stalling traffic on the Kanetsu Expressway. It resulted in even fewer tourists.

The resulting financial pressure has been hard to bear for some businesses.

Muikamachi onsen International Youth Hostel, for example, has spent triple what it usually pays in a year to have snow removed.

The Yunotani hot-spring district in Uonuma, a famed ``onsen spot with a snow view,'' benefited by housing volunteer staff and construction workers from nearby restoration projects until the end of last year.

The number of guests has decreased drastically now that major construction works have come to an end.

Also, the number of visitors during the New Year's holiday season was less than 20 percent from the previous year, according to Uonuma city's tourist information bureau.

One private hotel in business for more than half a century was forced to file for bankruptcy in late February.

In Yuzawa, a private inn called Oguraya has also felt the burden of flagging business.

``In January, our number of lodgers was about a half that of last year's,'' Tsuneyuki Ogura, the 45-year-old hotel operator, said with a sigh. ``Even in February, the rooms were almost all empty on weekdays.''

In an attempt to save mid-and small-sized hotels, the town's tourist information bureau began offering a special discount package.

Discount one-day lift tickets at one of 16 ski resorts are offered to groups of more than two if they stay at a member hotel.(IHT/Asahi: March 12,2005)