JTB has estimated that the total number of Japanese travelers during this year’s Golden Week period (April 25 to May 5) will be up 1.8% to 23.3 million. The number of domestic travelers will be unchanged from the last year, while the number of outbound travelers is expected to recover to 90% of the pre-pandemic level.
JTB has forecasted 22.8 million domestic travelers, almost the same as a year ago, 36,100 JPY in average cost a traveler (up 3.7%) and 823.1 billion JPY in total travel consumption (up 4.7%).
The most-preferred travel length is ‘two-day and one-night’ with 37.7% of the total, which is 1.2 points lower than a year ago. The ratios of ‘three-day and two night’ and ‘four-day and three-night’ are up 0.2 points to 33.9% and 1.7 points to 17.1% respectively.
The most selected travel purpose is ‘spending with family (31.7%),’ followed by ‘for relaxation (28.9%)’ and ‘enjoying local foods (28.5%).’
The most popular destination is ‘Kanto (20.1%),’ followed by ‘Kinki (16.7%)’ and ‘Tokai (12.8%),’
Regarding travel cost a traveler, the ratios of ’10,000 JPY to 20,000 (20.2%)’ and ’20,000 JPY to 30,000 JPY (20.2%)’ are down, while the ratio of ’30,000 JPY or more’ is up 4.7 points.
Regarding a transport mode, the ratio of ‘private car or rent-a-car’ is down 1.0 point, while the ratios of ‘railway’ and ‘airplane’ are up 2.2 points and 3.1 points respectively.
As of April 3, JTB received almost the same number of bookings as the last year, particularly more bookings for Tokyo including Tokyo Disneyland and for Kansai including Universal Studio Japan.,
Short overseas travel is preferred
JTB has estimated 520,000 outbound travelers, 67.7% more than a year ago. Despite a 44% decrease compared to 2019 because of 10 consecutive holidays at that time, the estimation is close to the average of 550,000 for five years from 2014 to 2018.
The average travel cost a traveler is up 4.7% to 269,000 JPY, and the total travel consumption is expected to be up 75.6% to 139.9 billion JPY. The highest ratio of travel cost is 18.8% for ’70,000 JPY to 100,000 JPY,’ followed by 16.7% for ’400,000 JPY or more’ and 15.6% for ‘200,000 JPY to 300,00 JPY.’
The most-preferred travel length is ‘four-day and three-night (27.1%),’ followed by ‘two-day and three night (16.7%).’ The most popular destination is ‘South Korea (20.8%),’ followed by ‘Southeast Asia (16.7%)’ and ‘Taiwan (13.5%).’
As of April 3, JTB received 125% more bookings than a year ago, particularly for Asia and Hawaii.
