Impact of the COVID‑19 outbreak on stock market returns: Evidence from Japanese‑listed tourism firms

Abstract

ABSTRACT This study analyzes Japanese tourism firms’ stock market response to the announcement of the COVID-19 outbreak in China. We also aim to reveal the impact of government policy response on the relationship between the effect of the COVID-19 outbreak and Japanese tourism stock returns. We adopt the event study method to analyze the negative impact of the outbreak on Japanese tourism abnormal stock returns (ARs). We found that the lockdown announcements in Wuhan were significantly negative for stock market returns in Japanese tourism and travel-related stocks. Moreover, there is a negative relationship between government response and Japanese tourism stock returns. Finally, the government response weakens the negative relationship between the COVID-19 cases and ARs in Japanese tourism and travel-related industries. Our results imply that the government response is useful in mitigating the negative impact on the relationship between the COVID-19 cases and ARs in the early stages of the outbreak. This study contributes to the design of effective government strategies for future pandemics.