ASIA PACIFIC. Japanese and Australian air travellers are flying in greater numbers again compared to 2016, according to ForwardKeys data.
Total Japanese outbound travel was up +4.1% year-on-year between January to mid-March, which ForwardKeys said was an “encouraging sign” for the rest of 2017.
Japanese outbound travel was down -5.4% in 2016, partly because of concerns about safety following terrorist attacks in Europe. There has been +1% growth in Europe in the year-to-date, after slumping -16.4% in 2016. The region holds a 17.5% market share.
The Asia Pacific region is leading the way in growth, with a +4.7% increase in arrivals from Japan so far in 2017. It holds a 60.1% market share.
Australia and Hong Kong are the biggest winners in the list of top ten Asia Pacific destinations for Japanese travellers this year, according to ForwardKeys, both seeing growth of more than +30% compared to the same period last year.
Other Northeast Asian destinations, including China, South Korea and Taiwan, with large market shares, also saw good growth. US island territory Guam declined significantly (-27.6%).
ForwardKeys has also reported an “extremely healthy” +12% increase in forward outbound and inbound bookings for Australia over the next six months, compared to the same period last year.
It said Australian inbound numbers from Asia Pacific are being fuelled by growth from Indonesia (+133%), Hong Kong (+72%) and China (+45%). New Zealand, which has the largest market share of travel to Australia, is currently lagging -11% in forward bookings.
Within the Asia Pacific region, Australian travellers are booking in increasing numbers to Malaysia, (+64%), India (+48%), and Indonesia (+46%).
“These are encouraging findings which show a significant bounce back from security concerns,” said ForwardKeys CEO Olivier Jager. “Japanese outbound travel was affected from late 2015. But long-haul destinations are now recovering from a negative year in 2016. The figures for Australia are also good, with the usual caveat that people may be booking earlier than last year.”
