Business hotels located on expressways in Aichi Prefecture are seeing a sharp rise in Chinese customers as those touring the Tokyo-Kansai route seek a place midway to spend the night.

The trend reflects a shortage of accommodation in Nagoya itself: The cost to the prefecture is that the tourists spend the night without enjoying local attractions and then motor away.

While the highway hotels are adapting themselves to cope with demand, it means most tourists leave without doing any sightseeing in the Chubu region, the local tourism industry says.