On November 24, Google held a briefing on the latest characteristics of Japanese people’s willingness to travel and information behavior. A summary of the meeting is also available on the company’s marketing information dissemination site, “Think with Google. According to Mizuki Nakajima, Analytical Consultant in charge of Business Intelligence at the company, surveys such as the Japan Tourism Agency’s “Travel and Tourism Consumption Survey” and Hakuhodo Institute of Life and Living’s “Sei-katsu-sha Survey on the New Coronavirus” have shown a recovery trend in travel motivation, which had been depressed by the coronavirus. The company decided to conduct interviews and surveys to better understand the current travel attitudes of the Japanese people.
Lifestyle Changes Affect Travel Attitudes According to Mr. Nakajima, 49.2% of respondents had traveled domestically and 3.1% had traveled internationally in the past year, but 76.9% of respondents intended to travel domestically and 32.0% overseas in the next one year. The per capita budget per trip surveyed separately was 51,000 yen for domestic and 162,000 yen for overseas, and when combined with the frequency of travel, the market size is estimated to be 12.6 trillion yen for domestic travel and 11 trillion yen for overseas travel. As for who to travel with in Japan, “with a partner” remains the most common choice at 34.7%, but “traveling alone” and “with friends/acquaintances” have increased significantly, indicating a change in awareness of the Corona disaster. In fact, the search volume for “Hitori XX” such as “Hitori Ryokan” and “Hitori Onsen” has actually increased, which can be interpreted as a result of an increase in the number of people who are looking forward to spending more time alone and discovering the advantages of traveling alone. On the other hand, those who indicated a desire to travel “with friends and acquaintances” indicated that while they have more time to spend alone, they have less time to socialize with friends and acquaintances, and they want to travel to regain the opportunity to interact with them. As for destinations, the past year has seen a strong influence from Corona, with most respondents traveling to metropolitan areas such as Kanto, Kansai, and Chubu, while the coming year is expected to see an increase in travel to sightseeing destinations far from their places of residence, such as Hokkaido, Okinawa, and Kyushu. In terms of search volume, the volume of searches for Hokkaido and Okinawa has returned to 2019 levels. As for overseas, travel to Asia, Hawaii, Guam, Saipan, and Europe is expected to increase.
© Source travel watch