The Shangri-La Hotel in Tokyo has closed its doors until mid-April following Japan’s massive earthquake and tsunami, a spokesman said yesterday, spotlighting the impact of the crisis on tourism.

Foreign nationals have fled Tokyo, governments have advised their citizens to leave and airlines have cut flights to the Japanese capital following the twin disasters and continuing unease over an ongoing nuclear emergency.

The luxury hotel, which opened in 2010, will remain closed until April 16. Around 300 staff are on paid leave, media officer Maria Kuhn said, adding that uncertainty over power and goods supplies informed the decision.

“We felt that with the logistical difficulties, transportation issues and the rolling black-outs we were not able to offer our usual standard of service,” she told AFP.

Embattled Tokyo Electric Power Co, operator of the stricken Fukushima nuclear plant, last week instituted rolling blackouts in the greater Tokyo area but not in the city centre where the hotel is located.

Another luxury hotel, The Mandarin Oriental Tokyo, remained open but has temporarily closed facilities including many of its bars and restaurants.

“Our restaurants and bars are now partially closed in order to support the energy saving project directed by the Japan Government,” a spokeswoman for the hotel said. Much of usually neon-lit Tokyo has been dimmed since the crisis.

In a statement yesterday the Mandarin Oriental said it planned to reopen closed facilities by Saturday in response to the “stabilisation” of the city’s power and product supply chain.

Singapore Airlines said yesterday it will suspend half of its daily flights between the city-state and Tokyo’s Haneda airport as demand weakened because of the nuclear crisis.

Air China and Taiwan’s EVA Airways had earlier announced plans to reduce their flights into Japan. Around 22,000 people are confirmed dead or listed as missing in Japan following the country’s biggest ever quake and the devastating tsunami it unleashed, which ravaged swathes of the northeastern coast.