JAPAN. April saw a -8.0% year-on-year drop in outbound Japanese travellers, Travel Journal International (TJI) Online revealed today.
Citing Japan National Tourist Organization (JNTO) figures, TJI said that 1,187,000 Japanese travellers went overseas in the month. The total number of Japanese outbound travellers in the first four months of 2008 was down -4.99% year-on-year to 5,368,554.
TJI noted: “The April figure represents the 12th straight month of year-on-year decline since May 2007. It is also the largest drop in the past 12 months, breaking the -7.6% drop posted in March 2008.”
JNTO attributed the decline to a series of negative factors, including the adverse combination and sequence of the Golden Week holiday season between late April and early May; the yet-unresolved Chinese-made poisoned food incident; adverse publicity over Tibet; and hikes in fuel surcharges.
The drop in the number of China-bound visitors is beginning to take its toll on total outbound figures as Japan’s near neighbour had been such a popular travel choice, TJI said.
Japanese visitors to China have fallen by -7% to 1,186,024 in the first four months of 2008 compared with the same period a year earlier. March and April saw sharp falls of -13.8% and -10.5% respectively.
However this shift, if protracted, could spell good news for other nearby destinations such as South Korea, Thailand, Taiwan and Guam, TJI said.
Meanwhile, the tally of foreign visitors to Japan in April reached 780,200, up 9.27% from a year ago. By originating countries, visitors from South Korea, Taiwan, China, Thailand, Singapore, Australia, Germany and France marked all-time high records, respectively, said JNTO. The accumulated number of inbound foreign visitors in the Jan-April months surged 10.27% from the same period a year ago to 2,919,776.
*Editor’s note: For the full report please visit http://tji/tjinet.co.jp. The Moodie Report works closely with TJI Online, the pre-eminent provider of information on the Japanese travel industry. Week in, week out, it provides timely and sharp analysis of the all-important Japanese travel market – international and domestic. It comes with our highest recommendation.
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