JAPAN. Booking levels for the next three months through August point to a strong summer season, according to Japan’s leading travel industry publication, Travel Journal International Online (TJI).
TJI based its findings on current reservation activities through mid-June at major wholesalers and said the numbers are being buoyed by last-minute bookings.
“While it is too early to determine what the summer season will be at the end of August, strong indicators underscore that pent-up demand – as a result of last year’s Iraq War and SARS – is being transferred into actual bookings,” said TJI, citing the latest survey results of summer brand package tour booking levels at major Japanese wholesalers.
So far Holiday and Mach/Best brands show a clear increase compared with the same period in 2002 (as opposed to the depressed 2003). Holiday’s Hawaii tours recorded a double-digit increase for the third consecutive month.
The July bookings for Mach/Best tours offered by Nippon Travel Agency are also on the rise, outpacing 2002 levels for most destinations (though outbound demand in the early summer of 2002 was slow due to the FIFA Soccer World Cup in Japan). “Yes, people began travelling again but it is a bit premature to say the market has completely come back,” a Nippon Travel Agency official told TJI.
LOOK JTB and JALPAK follow closely in booking levels. JTB said “Summer booking is at the 90% level as of today” while Jalpak said booking levels have reached the 85% mark in the first six months.
JTB said that the weekly booking status outpaced the corresponding weeks of 2002 for the third consecutive week. Travel Designer Shinjuku, the JTB affiliate specializing in overseas individual travel, has been attracting more than 1,000 customers a day since the first week of June.
Popular family travel destinations such as Hawaii, Guam/Saipan and Oceania (particularly Cairns, Australia) have made a strong resurgence this summer. Although China, Hong Kong and Singapore are lagging behind the recovery pace of other destinations, bookings for some Asian brand tours are outstripping 2002 levels thanks to popular destinations such as Bali and Thailand.
Beach resort destinations, either domestic or overseas, seem to be the major attraction this summer, perhaps due to last year’s cool summer in Japan.
A sharp rise in charter flights is also boosting bookings. ANA Hallo Tours, which handles charter products to Canada, said that bookings for charter tours rose +236% over the same period last year. Good charter bookings pushed up ANA Hallo Tours’ overall booking levels, helping to offset slow bookings in its regular products.
Jalpak has devoted 13 charter flights to Palau (an important location for DFS Group) into its AVA products this year, and anticipates all charters will be fully booked by the end of June. Thanks to non-stop charter flights with shorter flight hours, demand by families with small children has grown.
MORE STORIES ON JAPANESE TRAVEL
Japanese travel to China hits monthly high – 21/06/04
Japan targets inbound visitors – 21/06/04
Surfing attracts waves of Japanese tourists to the Phillippines – 18/08/04
Japanese overseas travel bookings surge – 14/06/04
Australia launches record Japanese promotion – 07/06/04
South Korean travel market resurgent; Outbound numbers strong but Japanese inbound soft – 03/06/04
