Japanese traveling less to Asian countries
Berlin : Against the established trend of Japanese travelers who used to travel more to the neighboring Asian countries, the Japanese traveling trend has seen a steep downfall in the present year. The Japanese have increased a small percentage of international travel to the non-Asian countries, however, traveling to the Asian countries have slumped by almost 10 %, according to the World Travel Trends Report, published and compiled by ITB Berlin and IPK International.
In contrast to the buoyant Chinese market, the Japanese outbound travel market is declining, according to the Asian Travel Monitor results. The number of trips dropped by 2% in the first eight months of the year, nights fell by 3% and spending was 6% lower. Holiday trips were down 2% and business travel declined by 6%. The average costs of a trip have dropped to € 1,918 with € 314 spent per night.
This downward trend is hitting Asian destinations more than long-haul destinations. The Japanese, who traditionally take nearly half of their international trips outside Asia, have increased non-Asia trips by 2% this year but trips to Asian destinations have slumped by 10%. The Japanese have cut back tours by 20% but city trips (+3%) and beach holidays (+14%) are bucking the downward trend this year. Due to this development, the average length of a trip has dropped slightly to 6.1 nights.
Looking ahead to 2014, the mood among Japanese consumers for travel planning is cautious despite the recent upturn in the economy. More people than last year (32% vs 28%) said the economy would affect their travel planning. Only 18% plan to travel abroad more next year, 50% about the same, 13% less and a high 19% will not travel internationally at all. Based on these figures, IPK predicts that Japanese outbound travel will stagnate in 2014. Source: WTTR Report.
