Marianas to get 43K visitors

Saipan and Guam are expected to receive 7 percent of the over 600,000 Japanese tourists who will be traveling outside their country during this year’s Golden Week, according to a report by a top travel management agency in Japan.

JTB Corp. projected that about 43,000 Japanese travelers will visit Saipan and Guam between April 27 and May 7, one of the peak seasons for Japanese tourists. This represents an increase of 8 percent from last year.

The Japan agency did not provide a breakdown of the number of tourists expected to visit each destination.

JTB’s projections were based on a questionnaire survey of 2,200 respondents intending to spend at least one night away from home during the Golden Week, bookings with JTB, airline reservations, and travel industry trends.

The survey was conducted from March 3 through March 14, 2005 at some 200 locations throughout Japan.

JTB estimated that 602,000 Japanese would travel overseas during the Golden Week, an increase 13.8 percent from last year. This year’s figure is the highest total since the survey began in 1969, JTB said.

Of the travelers, 316,000 will go to Asian destinations, with 95,000 traveling to China, 84,000 to Korea, and 32,000 to Taiwan.

The number of Japanese tourists going to Hawaii is expected to reach 53,000. The U.S. mainland and Canada will receive 52,000 and 10,000 visitors from Japan, respectively.

It is estimated that Europe would welcome 86,000 visitors, while Oceania—including Australia, New Zealand, and Southern Pacific—will receive 33,000 visitors.

According to JTB, the average expenditure on overseas travel is expected to rise to $2,410, a 3-percent growth from last year. “This reflects an increase in travel to more remote destinations in Europe and North America, etc., while the ease with which holidays may be taken is also encouraging longer, costlier trips,” JTB said.

The JTB report indicated that more people were willing to spend on travel.

Asked on their intention to spend on travel, 16.7 percent of the respondents said they wanted to spend more—a 2.6 percentage point increase in those wanting to spend more than last year.

“This is the first such increase of over a percentage point since the year 2000 [when it rose 1.9 points] and suggest a remarkable willingness to travel,” JTB noted.

Those who wanted to spend about the same were down by 2.0 points and those who wanted to spend less were slightly down by 0.1 points.

Of the respondents, 74 percent said they would travel with their family, 17.2 percent with friends or acquaintances, and 3.5 percent alone.

Meanwhile, 36.4 percent of those who would not be traveling said they decided to stay home because Golden Week gets so crowded. Other reasons cited for not traveling included work, the need to relax, high travel costs, family budget limitations, and concern over economic prospects.