JAPAN. Only five of nine major Japanese wholesalers showed year-on-year gains in bookings for July and August departures due to lacklustre demand for Hawaii and North America, according to a Travel Journal International Online* booking survey for the key July-September period.
Conducted between 22 and 31 July, the survey showed that overall travel demand for this summer is steadily growing as wholesalers began accepting reservations earlier and extended early booking discounts to a wider range of products this year. But some wholesalers posted year-on-year declines.
Bookings for July and August at Look JTB, Holiday, Mach/Best Tours and ANA Hallo Tours rose between +6% and +12% year-on-year earlier, while I’ll/AVA, Look World/Mind and Sky Tours witnessed decreases.
“Demand for China has recovered from the slump caused by the anti-Japanese demonstrations a year ago and that for Asia centering on Thailand, Singapore and Hong Kong is also growing”Travel Journal International OnlineAs September this year boasts only one long weekend (there were two last year), all wholesalers except ANA Hallo and Club 21 are showing lower booking levels this time around. “It appears that part of conventional September travel demand had shifted earlier into August,” said Look JTB.
TJI said: “Demand for China has recovered from the slump caused by the series of anti-Japanese demonstrations a year ago and that for Asia centering on Thailand, Singapore and Hong Kong is also growing. However, demand for Hawaii remained lacklustre for the three months at four wholesalers.”
Bookings for North America this year are down year-on-year as activity returns to normal levels from the 2005 high due to the 50th anniversary of Disneyland, which attracted many Japanese visitors. Bookings for Guam and Saipan are moving favourably at Look JTB, Holiday and the R&C Tours’ three brands.
*EDITOR’S NOTE This story was originally reported by Travel Journal International (TJI) Online which this month celebrates the 200th edition of its weekly e-newsletter. We congratulate Editor Adrian (Edo) Mangiboyat and his team on this great achievement. The Moodie Report works closely with TJI Online, which is the pre-eminent provider of information on the Japanese travel industry. To subscribe, please click here. It comes with our highest recommendation.
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