Travel confidence among Japanese consumers ‘shaken significantly’ by global financial crisis, says TJI – 12/11/08

JAPAN. Travel confidence among Japanese consumers has been “shaken significantly” by the global financial crisis, according to an attitude survey conducted by consulting firm Japan Market Intelligence (JMI).

The findings were published by Travel Journal International (TJI) Online*. In an online survey (conducted for three days from 22 October) polling 200 men and women between 25 and 69 years of age residing throughout Japan, 22% of the respondents said they are “very much affected” by the financial crisis.

It revealed that 52% said that the crisis has affected their choice of where they want to travel. And 37% said they plan to reduce the frequency of their travel in efforts to deal with the insecurity over their finances.

More positively, some consumers said that despite the financial upheaval, they are willing to travel abroad to take advantage of the recent appreciation of the Yen (currently at ¥97.84 to the US Dollar).

This dynamic was supported by findings that showed the share of consumers who did not travel over the past 12 months but who selected overseas travel in their future plans jumped to 25% from 16% – JMI said this reflected the sudden appreciation of the Yen.

The share of consumers who chose domestic travel for their future plans reached 63%, down from 76% in August 2008 when the survey was last conducted.

*Editor’s note: The Moodie Report works closely with TJI Online, the largest English-language travel trade news source in Japan. Week in, week out, it provides timely and sharp analysis of the all-important Japanese travel market – international and domestic. To subscribe please visit https://tji.tjnet.co.jp. It comes with our highest recommendation.

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