By YOKO MASUDA/ Staff Writer
December 14, 2024 at 17:10 JST
Waikiki Beach in Honolulu (Provided by H.I.S. Co.)
Bookings for overseas travel during the year-end and New Year’s holiday period are up sharply and average spending during the nine-day break is likely to hit a record high.
Travel agency JTB Corp. estimated that 520,000 people will travel abroad between Dec. 23 and Jan. 3. Although the figure is still only 60 percent of what it was in 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic, it is up 13 percent over the previous festive period.
Projected average spending per person increased 6 percent year on year to 273,000 yen ($1,780), a record high since 1996 when comparable statistics became available. The weak yen and soaring commodity prices were also factors.
Destinations in Asia, particularly South Korea and Taiwan, remain popular, and flights to Hawaii are almost fully booked.
South Korea was the most sought-after destination, followed by Taiwan, Europe and Hawaii, according to a JTB survey.
It found that the largest portion of respondents said they would spend 400,000 yen or more per person, but the number of respondents who answered 50,000 yen to 200,000 yen per person increased from the previous year.
Another travel agency, H.I.S. Co., said the number of people booking overseas travel for the year-end and New Year’s holidays increased 25 percent from a year earlier.
Honolulu, which had been the most popular destination before the pandemic, dropped to third place, and Asian countries and regions occupied almost all of the other top 10 spots.
Nevertheless, among those who are able to take long vacations, more of them plan trips to North America and Europe. Flights to Hawaii on All Nippon Airways Co. (ANA) and Japan Airlines Co. (JAL) are almost fully booked.
JAL’s public relations department said reservations were exceeding those of previous years while ANA said bookings for flights to Europe increase by 50 percent from a year earlier.
On the other hand, a growing number of people are holding off on travel due to the burden on family finances.
Roughly 80 percent of respondents in a JTB survey of 10,000 customers said they would not travel. Of these, the number of respondents who cited “lack of household finances” as the reason increased from the previous year.
About 20 percent said they do not want to travel due to the weak yen and rising prices.
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