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JATA: Packaged tours to Marianas selling slow
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Posted on Dec 11 2005
Package tours to Guam and Saipan for the last holiday are selling slow, according to a Japan-based travel agents group.
Japan Association of Travel Agents issued results of a recent survey showing that, as of mid-October, reservations made by Japanese tourists planning to visit the Marianas in December 2005 have reached only 76.3 percent of the December 2004 figures.
JATA did not provide more specific figures.
The rest of Pacific destinations are doing a lot better than the Marianas. As of Oct. 19, Oceania’s December booking level reached 90.1 percent, while that of Hawaii reached 85.3 percent.
The JATA survey also showed that the travel trend continue to favor American and Canadian destinations, which jointly posted a booking level of 113.3 percent.
Europe also did relatively well, at 87.4 percent.
Meanwhile, JATA observed caution among Japanese travelers in planning trips to China and the rest of Asia.
Asia’s booking level reached only 82 percent, while China was way behind with 56.2 percent.
“It is difficult to be optimistic about China and other Asian destinations, as they continue to languish in the wake of the tsunami damage to the Asian beaches, terrorist bombings in Bali, and lingering uneasiness after recent anti-Japan demonstrations in China and South Korea,” JATA said.
Each quarter, JATA conducts a survey of overseas package tours in order to grasp future overseas travel trends by destination. The survey covers five major package tour agencies in Japan.
For this survey, JATA reviewed not only the status of booking for the period October through December 2005, but also actual results at five travel agencies offering overseas packages for the period from July to September 2005.
Conclusions were drawn after JATA compared the current results with results for the same periods last year.
This survey was carried out at the beginning of October 2005. (Agnes E. Donato)
