(April 23, 2004)
2004 Overseas Package Tours
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Actual Results for January to March and Status of Bookings for April to June (Five Package Tour Travel Agencies)
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Actual Results for January to March
- Hawaii, Guam and Saipan fared very well:
Hawaii 116.7% (January), 111.2% (February), 117.4% (March)
Guam and Saipan 135.0% (January), 137.2% (February), 127.8%
(March)
(Compared to the previous year)
Status of Bookings for April to
June
Due to the powerful negative impact of SARS, the war in Iraq
and other factors had on performance last year, the following
results are compared to 2002.
- With the exception of Asia and
China, the status of reservations in April for all destinations
compared quite favorably with 2002.
America and Canada (123.0%), Hawaii (129.0%),
Guam and Saipan (106.9%), Europe (107.0%), Oceania (106.7%)
(Compared to the same period two years ago)
- Thanks to the fact that the sequence
of vacation days during "Golden Week" (April 29-May 5) favors
the taking of long vacations, the pace of reservations for
April and May is rather brisk, with levels this year expected
to recover to 2002 levels.
Total for all destinations: April (101.6%), May (100.1%)
(Compared to the same period two years ago)
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Overseas Package Tour Actual Results
and Booking Levels by Destination
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Results Comparison
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Booking Levels
(Year-on-year comparisons from
early April)
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Jan.
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Feb.
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Mar.
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Apr.
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May
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June
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Compared with
2003
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Compared with
2003
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Compared with
2003
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Compared with
2003
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Compared with
2002
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Compared with
2003
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Compared with
2002
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Compared with
2003
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Compared with
2002
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| U.S. and Canada |
89.1%
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120.2%
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116.3%
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218.6%
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123.0%
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220.9%
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121.7%
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177.2%
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112.4%
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| Hawaii |
116.7%
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111.2%
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117.4%
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168.6%
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129.0%
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165.9%
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105.4%
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128.4%
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85.6%
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| Guam and Saipan |
135.0%
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137.2%
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127.8%
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179.7%
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106.9%
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174.9%
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99.7%
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123.8%
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68.7%
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| Europe |
100.0%
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98.1%
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113.1%
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183.6%
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107.0%
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205.9%
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100.7%
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147.8%
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98.3%
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| Oceania |
100.0%
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101.7%
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99.4%
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118.8%
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106.7%
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133.0%
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85.2%
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81.5%
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64.4%
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| Asia |
78.5%
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70.4%
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70.2%
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158.5%
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80.8%
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221.1%
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76.9%
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98.1%
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53.7%
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| China |
60.3%
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46.5%
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44.0%
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111.1%
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74.3%
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148.2%
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62.1%
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95.1%
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58.6%
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| Total |
92.7%
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89.6%
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93.4%
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161.0%
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101.6%
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199.8%
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100.1%
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126.3%
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80.0%
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(Based on the number of passengers)
Bookings
for Tours for the Period from January to March 2004
(which researched three months ago) and Results of Recent
Survey
Agencies surveyed
JTB Corp., Kinki Nippon Tourist Co., Ltd., Nippon Travel
Agency Co., Ltd., Jalpak Co., Ltd., Hankyu Express International
Co., Ltd.
In
order to grasp future overseas travel trends by destination,
the Japan Association of Travel Agents (JATA) investigated
the total sales performance for the period from January
to March 2004 with the same period in 2003, and the
status of reservations for the period of April through
June 2004 with the same period in 2002 and 2003 at five
major travel agencies offering overseas packages. This
survey was carried out at the beginning of April 2004.
Actual results for January through March
With
Hawaii, Guam and Saipan setting the pace, actual results
for all destinations exceeded the previous year, indicative
of a steady recovery all around. The only cloud in the
otherwise blue sky of overall performance was the fall
in results compared to the previous year for destinations
in China and Asia due to concerns over bird flu and a
possible recurrence of SARS.
Bookings for April through June
This
year's sequence of holidays during the Golden Week period
fall on weekdays near weekends making it conducive for
people to take more time off. According to a survey by
the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, companies plan
to take an average of 5.6 days off during the period,
0.8 days longer than last year. Thanks to this favorable
calendar, the pace of bookings for April and May is quite
brisk with bookings to long-haul destinations such as
Hawaii and Europe leading the way. Results for all destinations
this year are expected to recover to 2002 levels.
Bookings
for package tours to China and Asia show signs of recovery
over the January-March period which suffered from the
impact of bird flu fears. However, the pace of April-June
bookings is slow, in part due to a strengthening trend
toward last-minute bookings.
Prospects for April through June
A comparison of the booking status for the January to March period with the actual results reported in the current survey and the results from last quarter's survey shows that results have improved for both nearby destinations such as Guam, Saipan and China as well as for long-haul destinations such as Hawaii and Europe. Currently the pace of June bookings is lagging behind April and May, but overall bookings are trending up for all destinations.
Please direct any inquires
or comments concerning the above to the JATA Public
Relations Department
TEL: 03-3592-1244FAX:
03-3592-1268
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