TokyoTomo Travel Guide

According to Narita International Airport Corporation (NAA), the number of outbound and inbound travelers during the “Golden Week” spring holidays running from April 24 through to May 5 this year is expected to increase by 5.0 percent year-on-year to 1,079,000. The number of departing passengers is estimated to total 533,000 with a 4.6 percent year-on-year increase whilst the number of returning passengers is estimated to total 546,000 with a 5.4 percent year-on-year increase. By destinations, as NAA predicts, the resort destinations such as Hawaii and Guam and the European destinations attract the spring holidaymakers as observed during the last New Year holidays.

The outbound traffic peaks on April 29 with 46,200 passengers, followed by May 1 with 45,400 and April 28 with 43,400. The inbound traffic peaks on May 5 with 50,100 passengers, followed by May 4 with 44,500 and May 3 with 39,300.

When the total number of departing and returning passengers to be handled at the respective passenger terminal buildings, PTB 1 and PTB 2, are compared, it is noteworthy that PTB 2, where Japan Airlines and JALways have reduced their weekly flight frequency by 34 flights, expects to handle 480,800 passengers, down by 2.3 percent, while PTB1 expects to handle 598,200 passengers, up by 11.7 percent.

Source: Travel Vision

Travel Vision Inc. provides information on the travel industry in Japan via "Daily Travel Vision", a Japanese-language e-mail newsletter, and the "Travel Vision" website. There are nearly 110,000 people working in the Japanese travel industry, and Travel Vision is proud to be bringing travel news to more than 30,000 people through Daily Travel Vision.

A survey conducted by JTB Corp. indicates that Japanese overseas travelers for the coming spring holidays (Golden Week, departures from April 24 through May 4) are estimated at 508,000, up 4.3 percent from last year. It is going to be for the first time in three years to exceed half a million. The average expenses spent on overseas travel are forecast to be 223,100 yen, up 4.7 percent, and total travel expenditures to be 113.3 billion yen, up 9.2 percent.

JTB recounts the following reasons for the rising demand at the travel market: a favorable holiday calendar allowing for a long journey, appreciated exchange rates of yen, opening of the Shanghai Expo in China, and inauguration of new flight services to and from Narita Airport. Questionnaires reveal that people who want to increase spending on overseas travel climbed to 16.3 percent, up 3.0 points, signaling an improvement of consumers’ sentiment. It should be noted, however, that average amount spent on overseas travel still stays low, in the train of 213,100 yen in 2009 (down 16.3%), or further back to 228,558 yen in 2000 and 213,327 yen in 1999.

Seen by destination, all the destinations are expected to mark a growth over the previous year or at least keep the same level, with an exception of Korea which is likely to fall 4.9 percent to 98,000 in the number of travelers. The highest growth will be attained by China at 90,000 travelers, up 12.5 percent, followed by Australia at 15,000, up 7.1 percent. Long-haul destinations like Europe and Hawaii are also in good form. Rise in oil surcharge does not seem to cool people’s travel mind.

Read more…

Kansai International Airport and Chubu International Airport released the number of the respective outbound and inbound travelers during the “Golden Week” vacation. In terms of the outgoing passenger volume previously forecasted, Kansai and Chubu expected an increase of 5 percent and 5.3 percent respectively year-on-year. The actual results, however, failed to grow as estimated and remained equalling the last year’s level. By destinations, the traffic results have turned out quite differently from one destination to another. Both airports saw a year-on-year traffic increase in Korea, China and Hawaii. Chubu International Airport posted a 7 percent traffic increase also in Hong Kong/Macau. On the other hand, the destinations including U.S. and Oceania, where seat capacity had declined, showed a significant drop in passenger loads. Read more…