TokyoTomo Travel Guide

During a symposium for overseas travel trend held by Japan Travel Bureau Foundation (JTBF) Hiroshi Kurosu, Senior Researcher, JTBF repeated, as discussed before, that the number of outbound travelers in 2009 is expected to post 15.2 million, down by 4.9 percent year-on-year as estimated at the end of 2008. A 6 percent decrease of GDP is foreseen in future. If the number of outbound travelers declines at the same rate as a period from the fourth quarter of FY2008 to the first quarter of FY2009, the year 2009 will see roughly 15.3 million outbound travelers or over 14.5 million, in case the decrease rate remains the same as a period from the fiscal fourth quarter to the fiscal second quarter, the latter of which is severely hurt by the outbreak of the swine flu. Although the fiscal third quarter is expected to edge down slightly, when compared with the past statistics, it should not further decline and the fourth quarter of FY2009 should show a small recovery. “It doesn’t need to revise the estimated number of 15.2 million outbound travelers,” Kurosu concluded.

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Narita International Airport released its number of passengers expected during the “Golden Week” spring vacation running this year from April 24 to May 7.

The number of outbound travelers this year is forecast to increase by 6.1 percent to 487,400. Last year, the departure date peaked on April 25 with 43,079 holiday makers due to the non-consecutive line-up holiday. This year, the departure date is expected to peak on May 2 with 46,800 passengers, followed by April 29 with 44,700 and April 26 with 40,000. Also, April 28 and May 1 expect to see as many holiday makers as 39,200 and 38,400 respectively. Compared to the same period a year earlier when the peak departure dates fell within the first half of the Golden Week, the departure dates this year are favorably aligned thanks to the consecutive holiday line-up.

The number of inbound travelers during the Golden Week is forecast to rise 2.0 percent to 476,800. The peak return traffic is slated on May 6 with 49,355 passengers, followed by May 5 with 42,200 and May 4, 37,378. By destinations, South Korea, Guam, Saipan and Honolulu are reported to show a robust growth. The number of passengers, outbound and inbound, presently stands at 964,200 in total on a 4.0 percent year-on-year increase.

Source: Travel Vision

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The Immigration Bureau of the Ministry of Justice released the final number of Japanese outbound travelers for 2008 which stood at 15,987,250, down 7.6 percent from the previous year (cf. 15,987,240 in preliminary figure). In terms of travelers’ domicile, all prefectures from Hokkaido to Okinawa recorded a decline, and there were no age groups that showed a positive growth.

Seventeen prefectures registered a double-digit decline with Kochi suffering the biggest drop of 15.6 percent (a decrease of 32,260 people), followed by Toyama’s 13.5 percent (78,603 people), and Iwate’s 12.3 percent (45,623 people). In the actual number of travelers by locality, top ranking metropolis/prefectures are Tokyo (3,046,025 people, -5.3%), Kanagawa (1,747,262, -7%), Osaka (1,217,127, -8.9%), and Aichi (1,082,853, -7.9%), and this order in the ranking is fixed since 2004. Tokyo was the smallest in the range of decline in all prefectures. Meanwhile, Chiba (999,783 people, -7.2%) and Saitama (960,840 people, -8.6%), both following on the heels of Aichi, kept No. 5 and No. 6 spots respectively as they did before, but fell short of a million travelers this time.

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