TOKYO – The average spending on domestic travel during the upcoming Golden Week holidays is expected to be 46,000 yen ($288) per person, marking the first decline since 2020, when the economy was hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic, a major travel agency said Thursday.
The figure was down 2.1 percent from a year earlier, according to a JTB Corp. survey, which showed that consumers were increasingly tightening their purse strings amid rising prices and the war in the Middle East.
The online survey, conducted in March, covered individuals planning trips of one night or longer during the period, which falls from April 25 to May 7 this year. It also found that the number of domestic travelers was likely to total 23.9 million, up 1.7 percent from the previous year.
Meanwhile, outbound travelers were estimated at 572,000, up 8.5 percent. Together, domestic and outbound travelers are projected at 24.47 million, up 1.9 percent from a year earlier.
Despite the strong travel demand, travelers are likely to save money by shortening their schedules or using cars and low-cost carriers, the firm said.
As for the average spending on outbound travel, the figure is expected to be 329,000 yen per person, up 2.2 percent from last year and the highest amount since comparable data became available in 1996.
JTB attributed the rise to the high cost of living at travel destinations and the impact of the weak yen.
AloJapan.com