[UPDATE] Japan Catastrophe Could Cost NYC Tourism Industry <strike>$1 Billion</strike>

On top of everything else, Japan's tourist industry has taken a nose dive since the triple-punch earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear threat rocked the island nation last week. The Japan National Tourism Organization doesn't yet have any statistics about booking cancelations, but the AP reports that Americans are canceling or postponing upcoming trips to Japan. And the flip side of this is that Japanese travelers are canceling their vacations to the U.S.

The Japanese are the fourth largest group of tourists that come to the U.S., and though their numbers have declined somewhat in recent years, Market Watch reports that over 2.9 million Japanese came last year, spending about $13 billion. And the website estimates that over 200,000 Japanese tourists visited NYC last year. But local hotels and tour operators tell the Post about half of their seasonal bookings from Japan have been cancelled already.

The Kitano on Park Avenue reports 250 bookings cancelled since the earthquake, and sushi restaurants are worried what the nuclear plant problems will mean for their fish supply. The tabloid estimates that the city's tourism industry could take a $1 billion loss. We've checked with the NYC public affairs department to see what they think of that number, but what's happening in Japan is obviously bad for the entire world. Of course, what's happening in Japan is immeasurably worse for the Japanese than any economic loss we may feel in NYC, and with that nuclear plant teetering on the brink of catastrophe, our problems seem a tad trivial.

UPDATE: As we suspected, the Post's $1 billion number seems to be more than a little sensational. George Fertitta, the CEO of NYC & Company, the city's official marketing, tourism and partnership organization, tells us, "Last year, NYC welcomed 225,000 Japanese visitors who spent an estimated $565 million in the city—but that's less than one half of one percent of all visitors. We expect the current and very sad disaster in Japan to have an impact on visitors to New York City, but a fraction of what some have speculated."