JTB: Japan summer
travel may slip

By Russ Lynch
Star-Bulletin

Japanese travel to Hawaii through July and August will be down a little from last summer's volume, as smarter travelers wait for lower prices in September, a new survey says.

The number of Japanese visitors will be down 1 percent, according to the Japan Travel Bureau Inc., Japan's largest travel company, which surveyed 2,000 men and women at 200 travel booking locations in Japan.

Interviewing people who plan to be away from home for at least an overnight stay, JTB calculated that 390,000 will visit Hawaii during the two months. Last year, an estimated 394,000 came.

The Japanese are getting smarter and beginning to book outside the peak summer months, seeking times when air fares and accommodations are cheaper, JTB said.

Young working women, who tend to look for the lowest-priced packages, are more likely to travel in September, an off month when rates are low, JTB said.

Japan Airlines agreed. "Our advance bookings do show a small decline in August, predominantly the heavy month because of summer vacations," said Gilbert Kimura, a JAL spokesman in Honolulu.

Fares do go down in September, Kimura said, but he has not yet studied bookings beyond August.

Patricia Yoshimoto, president of Jetour Hawaii Inc., said her company is experiencing a bigger decline in bookings than the overall average, probably a dip of more 3 percent.

That's largely because Jetour sells package tours and the smart Japanese travelers, many of whom have been to Hawaii before, are making their own independent travel arrangements, Yoshimoto said today. "They're not buying as much. They're not staying as long," she said of Japanese travelers in general.

But it's hard to tell exactly what's going on because the Japanese travelers' habits have changed, she said. Many bargain-hunting Japanese now don't make their bookings until three or only two weeks before traveling.

JTB's survey report, issued in Tokyo, said travelers felt that prices in the first half of the year were better than they would be in the summer.