Japanese Travelers

The number of Japanese overseas travelers were 694,300 in March 2023, approximately 150,000 more travelers than the previous month, but still 64% down compared to March 2019.

JTB has forecasted 24.7 million travelers in total during this year’s Golden Week holiday period from April 25 to May 5, 24.5 million domestic travelers (2% more than 2019) and 200,000 outbound travelers from Japan (78.5% fewer than 2019).

Japan Association of Travel Agents (JATA) launched a year-round promotion project to boost outbound travel demand, including social media posting campaigns and also a financial support for acquisition of new passports.

Expedia's the most-searched destinations by Japanese consumers for this coming Golden Week finds that six overseas destinations, such as Taipei, Bangkok or Seoul, are ranked among top 10.

According to Rakuten Travel survey, the most answers of paying attention to sustainability in traveling is found in 20s, while the least answers in 40s.The most motivated reason for changing awareness is ‘food loss or food crisis’ (45.6%).

The number of Japanese overseas travelers were 537,700 in February 2023, approximately 100,000 more travelers than the previous month.

Japan Tourism Agency drew up a policy package to recover the outbound travel market, expecting to achieve 20 million travelers, the 2019 level, as soon as possible.

the number of issued Japanese passports in 2022 was up 117.5% to about 1.37 million, but valid passports as of the end of 2022 reduced from 24 million a year ago to 21.7 million.

The total amount of Japanese travel consumption was just down 0.6% year on year to 5.1 trillion JPY in the 4th quarter of 2022(October to December 2022), compared to the same period of 2019.

More than 90% of Japanese Generation Z who have experienced overseas travels say that they want to go overseas within this year, according to Japan Tourism Agency's survey. The most-focused point to choose a destination is ‘security’ with 73%.

The consumption willingness index in February 2023 rises by 1.7 points to 44.6 points, which is the highest in the last five years, particularly boosted by higher willingness to travel.

JTB has forecasted a 8.6% increase in domestic travelers to 266 million, a 189.7% increase in outbound travelers to 8.4 million and a 450.6% increase in inbound travelers to 21 million in 2023.

JTB Tourism Research & Consulting’s survey on SDGs finds that the awareness rate of 17 SGDs goals among domestic travel experiences in the past three years was 40.8%. The most important action in tourism was ‘preserving sea richness (38.1%)’

The Chinese Embassy in Japan announced suspension of visa issuance to Japanese travelers on January 11 2023, as payback against tighter border control for travelers from China by the Japanese government.

62.9% of Generation Z living in Tokyo or Osaka areas answered that they do not want to drive in Okinawa. 83.3% of those want to use public transportation in Okinawa, according to Okinawa Convention & Visitors Bureau (OCVB)’ survey.

The number of Japanese overseas travelers were 379,200 in November 2022, just about 30,000 more travelers than 349,557 in the previous month. Compared to November 2019 (1,642,333 travelers), the result was still down 79.6%.

Both ANA and JAL received 80% more domestic flight bookings and four times more international flight bookings in this coming New Year holiday period. The booking rates of international flights remarkably improved to 77% for both.

Virgin Australia announced launch of its first Japan service between Cairns and Haneda with the Boeing 737-8 on June 28 2023, expanding code-share flights with ANA. They expect that Japanese passengers may be 60 to 70% of the total on average through a year.

Princes Cruise will restart cruises in Japan in March 2023, offering 22 courses on 32 departure days in the period between March 13 and November 9 2023.

JTB has forecasted that domestic travelers will increase by 16.7% year on year to 21 million during this coming New Year holidays, which will be 28.2% fewer travelers than 2019, and the average travel expenses will be up 12.1% to 37,000 JPY, which will be 15.6% more than even 2019.