JAPAN. The provisional figure of Japanese travellers heading overseas in 2003 dropped to 13.3 million, the first time since 1994 the 13 million level had not been reached.
Travel Journal International Online cited Japan National Tourist Organization (JNTO) figures which said the level was down -19.5% from a year earlier.
JNTO said the mood of consumers, in light of the Iraq War and the SARS outbreak, particularly in Asia, shifted to a wait-and-see attitude to travel from March and through most of the year.
It was not until the final quarter of 2003 that outbound traffic improved as reflected in the single-digit decline in departures from Japan.
In December, the number of people heading overseas was down just -5.7% to 1.3 million, fuelled by the year-end/New Year’s traffic.
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