Has the Japan travel boom cooled down? Even with significant airfare increases, ‘we’re still going’

On Taiwan’s online forum PTT, a user’s question, ‘Has the Japan travel boom cooled down?’, is attracting attention. The photo shows Narita Airport.

Taiwanese media FTNN Shinbun Net recently reported that a question on Taiwan’s online forum PTT, ‘Has the Japan travel boom cooled down?’, is attracting attention.

The article introduced that ‘In the past two years, flight ticket prices have become expensive, and many Taiwanese tourists have experienced multiple trips to Japan. Seeing this situation, one user wondered if people wouldn’t change their destinations to Southeast Asia or Korea, and posted on the online forum PTT, asking ‘Has the Japan travel boom cooled down? Does anyone know any news about that?’

In response to this post, other netizens commented: ‘Why would it cool down when the yen remains weak?’, ‘Calculations show domestic travel is still more expensive’, ‘It’s exhilarating to use Japanese yen instead of New Taiwan Dollars’, ‘Currently, it’s 500,000 to 600,000 people in total; even if it decreases, it would probably be 300,000 to 400,000’, ‘It’s close, cheap, uses kanji, and there are many staff who understand the language, allowing for freedom. That’s not the case in other countries.’ Many netizens believed that the Japan travel boom would not cool down for a while yet.

Among the users who commented, some cited the diversity of tourist spots and events, such as Japan showing different aspects each season, and ‘just in July alone, there’s the 30th anniversary of ‘Pokémon (Pocket Monsters)’, the ‘Chiikawa’ movie, and Sanrio character ‘Cinnamoroll’s’ first musical, all packed with excitement,’ arguing that Japan remains the best tourist destination. On the other hand, there were also comments like ‘Cheap tickets to Tokyo have become harder to buy than last year’ and ‘It has already started to cool down.’ Some also pointed out that since many Taiwanese tourists visit Japan, tickets and accommodation fees for Japan tend to increase, and it remains to be seen whether the enthusiasm for visiting Japan will cool down in the future. (Translation/Editing: Harakuni Yuki)