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Increased confidence seen in Japanese travel
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Posted on Jun 22 2005
Statistics show an increased confidence in overseas travel within the Japan market, just when the Northern Marianas is set to lose a significant portion of its airline seat capacity due to Japan Airlines’ impending pullout.
Citing the latest report by the Japan National Tourist Organization, the Marianas Visitors Authority said yesterday that about 5.7 million Japanese tourists traveled outside their country during the first four months of 2005.
This represents an increase of 14.68 percent from Japan’s outbound travel figure in the first four months of 2004.
According to MVA, the Japan tourism agency reported that over 1.3 million of the travelers left Japan in April, when the Asian country celebrated its annual Golden Week.
The JNTO report also noted that this four-month tally exceeded the 2000 count by 3.15 percent, being that 2000 was the year that overseas travel set an all-time high record of 17.8 million, MVA said.
“Women and family markets continue to lead in outbound travel,” MVA added.
The authority said more and more Japanese travelers are choosing to travel alone. This market is comprised mostly of career women both single and married, between 30 and 50 years old, “who enjoy traveling alone to rejuvenate themselves and prefer to be on their own.”
MVA managing director Vicky Benavente said JNTO’s statistics were helpful in that it gave MVA some insight on the attitude of Japanese travelers.
“The statistics tell us that Japanese consumers are confident with traveling overseas. Although, we have lost some of our market share to other competitive destinations, we are working closely with travel agents and the airlines to regain our share of the Japan market,” Benavente said.
