Strong growth in Japanese holiday travel

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The year-end and New Year holiday season was notable for strong growth in the number of Japanese tourists travelling abroad, according to tour operator Japan Travel Bureau (JTB)

A favourable calendar helped increase the number of overseas travellers by over 33% year-on-year, with 667,000 Japanese making trips abroad between December 23 and January 3. This represents the second-highest figure ever for Japanese year-end travel, eclipsed only by the record set in 1996.

According to the JTB report, average expenditure on overseas travel was slightly up on last year, but the tour operator warned that expected decreases in winter bonuses made it likely that Japanese travellers would be wary of spending large amounts on travel in the first part of the New Year.

China was the most popular destination for Japanese travellers during the latest holiday season, attracting nearly 50% more tourists than in the same period last year. Europe also grew strongly in popularity, while Korea was the third most popular destination. Travel to Hawaii, meanwhile, is recovering from the effects of September 11, according to JTB.