JAPAN. The number of Japanese outbound travellers in 2011 is expected to fall -2.3% from 2010 to 16.25 million, due to the Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami and the slow recovery of the senior market, Travel Journal International (TJI) Online* reported this week.
The first half of 2011 saw a -3.41% year-on-year decline in outbound travel to 7,635,370.
TJI cited Japan Travel Bureau Foundation (JTBF) Senior Researcher Hiroshi Kurosu, who told a recent symposium on overseas travel trends that the soft senior market had been partly compensated by tourism demand from young women and free individual travellers (FIT).
Corporate travel, too, is expected to grow, he said.
Kurosu said that repeat travellers (those who have been overseas ten times or more) are showing a resurgence, thanks to the growing number of FITs and online reservations.
 |
Retail locations such as Centrair Duty Free at Chubu International Airport are experiencing a soft senior market |
An interesting indicator was that the number of passports issued for Japanese individuals in their 30s and over in May and June 2011 decreased year-on-year but demand from those in their 20s increased, particularly from women.
“Since the number of passports issued tends to reflect demand of Japanese heading overseas within months, it is anticipated that the number of young female travellers will increase in 2011,” TJI commented.
Kurosu pointed out that many senior citizens are dissuaded from travelling abroad due to insecurity regarding the social and political arena as well as economic uncertainty.
However, survey findings also showed that a growing number of consumers want to reassess their lives following the disasters in March, with many choosing travel as a way of fulfilling their desires.
*Editor’s note: The Moodie Report works closely with TJI Online, the largest English-language travel trade news source in Japan. Week in, week out, it provides timely and sharp analysis of the all-important Japanese travel market – international and domestic. To subscribe please visit https://tji.tjnet.co.jp. It comes with our highest recommendation.
