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Travel and Tourism-Japan

Travel and Tourism

Japan

Overview

(millions of US$) 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005

Total outbound market $42,112 $43,796 $42,591 $44,150 $47,422 $47,316

Outbound to the U.S $14,011 $11,705 $10,922 $11,000 $13,094 $16,520

(millions of people) 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005

Outbound travelers 17.8 16. 2 16.6 13.3 16.8 17.4

Outbound travelers to U.S. 5.06 4.10 3.63 3.17 3.75 3.88

(Note: Data for 2006 is not available. The above statistics are unofficial estimates.

Sources: U.S. Department of Commerce, Office of Travel and Tourism Industries, Japan Tourism Marketing Co.)

Japan has for many years been the largest overseas travel and tourism market for the United States. However, immediately following the September 2001 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in New York, Japanese outbound travel dropped considerably, especially to the United States. Another sharp drop occurred in 2003 because of concerns raised by the SARS epidemic and the Gulf War. Since 2001, the increase in Japanese outbound travelers to the United States has been slow compared to the Japanese traveler's return to other countries, but even so, Japanese visitors to the United States still accounted for almost two-thirds of all Asian visitors in 2005. Regarding spending, Japan is the number one market for the United States regarding travel and passenger fare receipts, followed by the United Kingdom and Canada.

The United States is one of the most popular destinations for Japanese travelers, many of whom are repeat visitors. Over 70 percent of the repeat travelers visited the U.S. mainland or Hawaii last year. Other competitive long-haul destinations for Japanese tourists are European countries, especially for first-time travelers. Short-haul destinations such as South Korea and China remain very competitive, and received over one quarter of all outbound Japanese travelers. A majority of Japanese tourists throughout the 1990s were females, typically groups of single, working women and “mother & daughter” trips. However, the male market is growing, and by 2003 had overtaken the female market. Males in their 30s and 40s are now the majority of Japanese travelers to the United States.

Package tour/group trips are still the most popular and convenient way for Japanese travelers to make their arrangements. However, individually arranged travel known as Foreign Independent Travel (FIT) is gaining in popularity, mainly due to the many options now available on the Internet. Travelers with a specific purpose and with previous overseas travel experiences tend to choose FIT. FIT that meets travelers’ specific needs is emerging as a new trend, as are Special Interest Tours (SIT).

Pamphlets and Internet marketing still have a large influence on consumer decisions concerning destinations. On the other hand, “word-of-mouth” information, such as Internet blogs and the recommendations of well-traveled friends have an increasing influence on the consumer. The most significant change in the Japanese market is the introduction of “dynamic packages” to the market in the past few years. Dynamic packages are travel products with revolutionary booking tools that can be put together over the Internet through e-commerce/online travel agents. Travelers put travel components into their shopping carts and buy the components they want in order to tailor the travel to their needs and desires. This is having a great impact on the distribution system of the Japanese travel and tourism industries.

For market entry, good local partners are a must. To take advantage of new market trends, establishing relationships with E-commerce/online travel agents is important, and online agents are looking for travel and tourism content and/or components for dynamic-packaging. In order to reach out to Japanese consumers to cultivate their interests and to stimulate their motivations for travel, media exposure is also a key to success for U.S. travel and tourism service suppliers. To obtain media coverage, U.S. travel and tourism service suppliers are encouraged to cooperate and participate in media familiarlization trips and film locations.

Best Products/Services

Internet booking is expected to become a major method of making reservations, especially for FIT and SIT travelers. This applies not only to airplane tickets and hotels, but also to package tours and personalized and/or tailored tours, such as “dynamic packages.” Efforts to improve the convenience of travelers using the internet to book, or to develop systems for promoting special offers to internet bookers, will grow the Japanese tourism market even more.

Today, Japanese travelers have more overseas experience and can act on their own; thus they tend to look for something new and out of the ordinary. The use of car rentals in travel has expanded their sphere of action and led them to discover ways of finding new attractions. Those who have experienced these new attractions become heavy repeaters. Package tours that include the use of rental cars have been developed. The introduction of “dynamic packaging” and package tours using car rentals that are designed to meet travelers' new interests will stimulate the travel market in 2007.

Opportunities

U.S. Tourism Online Showcase

Dates: Any time [now available]

Organizer: Commercial Service Japan

Phone: (81-3) 3224-5087

Fax: (81-3) 3589-4235

E-mail: Yumiko.Okubo@N0SPAM.mail.doc.gov

Web: http://www.buyusa.gov/japan/en/tourism06.html

"SeeAmerica Week — Japan" Events

(1) TIA SeeAmerica Educational Seminar

Dates: September 2007 [dates TBD]

Place: Tokyo [venue TBD]