JAPAN. Young women and students will drive outbound travel during the spring season, Travel Journal International Online (TJI) reported this week.
Citing JTB Corp’s survey of spring travel trends, TJI said: “Of those polled, the majority were office female workers and students, many of whom have the time to travel during this period, considered an off season prior to the more popular Golden Week season running from the last week of April to the first week of May.”
The results showed that Hawaii, Guam, Saipan and the Asian region – except ailing South Korea and China – were the most popular destinations among young women. The US mainland is another popular choice, particularly the West Coast.
The survey drew 2,985 responses, of which 67.4% said they plan to travel either domestically or overseas. Some 38.6% plan to travel within Japan, of which 22.4% said they would take one-day trips. “In recent years, domestic travel has been characterised by heading to nearby destinations but this year shows a shift among travellers to head to farther places such as Okinawa, Hokkaido and Kyushu,” TJI said.
Meanwhile, other factors contribute to consumers not wanting to travel during the spring season. These include interests other than travel such as making consumer purchases amid Japan’s improving economy. JTB asked the question “˜What do you want that is better than travel?’, eliciting the following top five responses:
1. Personal computers (notebooks): 22.2%
2. Wide-screen plasma (flat-screen) TVs: 11.1%
3. Bags and clothing (casual): 5.7%
4. DVD recorders with hard-disk: 5.1%
5. iPod or digital music players: 4.8%
But there’s good news to finish: 22.2% of respondents said that nothing beats travel (overseas and domestic).
*Note: The Moodie Report works closely with Travel Journal International Online, which is the pre-eminent provider of information on the Japanese travel industry. To subscribe, please click here.
MORE STORIES ON JAPANESE TRAVEL
Japan travel agent JTB to open first bridal shop – 02/02/06
Geisha movie expected to boost tourism in Japan – 26/01/06
Russian airlines focus on Japan to grab market share – 08/12/05
