Monday 23 January 2012

JTB Foundation Forecasts Steady Growth


Japan Travel Bureau (JTB) Foundation is forecasting a 2.7 per cent growth in outbound demand this year to 17.4 million travellers, based on a full-year 2011 estimated result of 16.95 million. 

 For inbound, it is forecasting a 26.5 per cent increase in arrivals to Japan to 7.9 million this year, although this is still way below the peak in 2010 of 8.61 million. 
  
"Japan will need a little more time to surpass the pre-quake arrivals," JTB Foundation said in a statement.
  
In contrast to the sound recovery of outbound, inbound demand to Japan marked the worst performance among past major crises. 

 The five major source markets for Japan, namely, South Korea, China, Taiwan, the US and Hong Kong, comprise more than 70 per cent of the total inbound, but while monthly growth rates from Hong Kong, China and Taiwan were back to positive in October 2011, the other major source markets have stayed in negative, as of November 2011.
  
The foundation said China would lead the inbound recovery. "The Japanese government has gradually been easing its visa policy for China to boost the number of visitors to Japan. Although Japan lost approximately a fourth of its Chinese arrivals in 2011, the relaxation of visa policy together with significant growth potential of the Chinese outbound market will lead to a strong recovery in 2012, surpassing the number of arrivals in 2010. 

"Taiwan is another market which is expected to see more arrivals in 2012 than 2010. But arrivals for other major source markets will not reach the pre-quake level in 2012, although they will all show double-digit growths due to the bounce back effect," it said.

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