JTB revealed that the ratio of people who plan to travel this summer was down 2.4 points to 34.1% compared to the last year as of the survey day, though the ratio had risen from 36.1% in 2022 to 36.5% in 2023 after the pandemic.
JTB has forecasted that the number of Japanese travelers will decrease by 4.1% year on year to 69.8 million in total. Out of the total, domestic travelers may be down 4.2% to 68 million mainly because high desire to travel after end of the pandemic has recently calmed down. Outbound travelers are expected to increase by 1.2% year on year to 1.75 million, around 65% of the pre-pandemic level, although there are still negative economic factors.
The total travel consumption is expected to reduce by 3.2% year on year to 3,274 billion yen, which are divided into 2,856 billion yen for domestic travels (down 4.2%) and 418.2 billion yen for outbound travels (up 4.7%).
The average travel expenses are forecasted at 42,000 yen per domestic traveler, almost the same as a year ago, and at 239,000 yen per outbound traveler, 3.5% higher than a year ago due to depreciation of the yen, higher costs and longer-time or longer-range travel.
Travel to Europe is more selected than before
Domestic travelers tend to travel to other areas in resident areas and neighboring prefectures, and travelers to Kanto or Kinki from other regions have increased, according to the survey results. The most-selected travel companion is ‘family with kids (24.5%),’ which is 3.6 higher points than a year ago. The most-selected place to stay is ‘hotel (62.6%),’ followed by ‘ryokan (22.5%).’
The JTB’s domestic package tour booking status as of July 3 showed that the number of bookings were unchanged from a year ago, and Hokuriku, Izu/Hakone or Chubu areas are particularly preferred.
The most popular overseas destination is ‘Europe (17.5%)’ maybe because Olympic Games in Paris stimulates consumer minds, according to the sentiment survey. South Korea (15.3%)’ and ‘Southeast Asia (14.6%)’ follow.
As of July 3, the number of JTB overseas package tour bookings was up 30% compared to the last summer, and tours for Hawaii, South Korea, Singapore and Taiwan have been booked well. Tours for Europe are more preferred than a year ago, and MLB official tours to U.S. have been more booked than expected.
