1-1.Japanese Economic Trend (December 2011)

1-2. Number of Japanese Overseas Travelers in November 2011

Japan National Tourist Organization announced that the estimated number of Japanese overseas travelers in November 2011 was 1,510,000, a 5.1% increase over October 2010, and that in November is estimated 1,488,000, a 6.5% increase from November 2010. The outbound figure has shown an increase over the same month of the previous year for five consecutive months since July.

Short-haul destinations continue to be strong in Japanese outbound travel market. In November, Taiwan enjoyed 23.7% increase of Japanese tourist arrival over the same month of the previous year. Korea followed with +20.7% in Japanese tourist arrivals. Singapore has been showing a healthy +20% growth of Japanese visitor arrival since July 2011.

Narita International Airport reported that the number of Japanese departures in October 2011 was 671,821 down 11.2% from the same month of the year before. Whilst Japanese departures from Haneda increased to 232,401 (+147.8%), which is 2.5 times as many as that in October 2010. The total international departure from two of the Tokyo Metropolitan Airports in October increased by 6.3% from the same month of the previous year. Japanese international departure from Kansai International Airport in October was 295,886, (+3.0%) while Central Japan International Airport saw an 4.5% increase to 140,599.

1-3. Number of Inbound Travelers in November 2011

According to the JNTO, the number of international visitors to Japan in October 2011 was 615,800 (down 15.3% from October 2010), and 551,900 in November (down 13.1% from November 2010). After the March disaster, while the international visitor figure for 2011 is gradually catching up with that in 2010, the radiation issue remains a big challenge for full recovery. Additionally, continuous high exchange rate of yen against major international currencies is another hampering factor against tourist traffic flow to Japan.

In November, the number of visitors from Hong Kong and China exceeded the number recorded in the same month of previous year; 22.8% and 35.0% increase respectively. A large increase of Chinese visitors over the last year was partly a result of rebound from a decline due to the political dispute between China and Japan in October 2010. Tourist arrival from Thailand, which showed quick recovery after the 3.11 earthquake, further slowed down due to the recent flood disaster, recording 39.1% decline from November 2010.

1-4. Gross Sales of Major Companies (Outbound Travel Products)

Gross sales in outbound travel of the top 50 travel companies were approximately 204 billion JPY in October 2011. It has increased by 4.7% from the same month of the previous year. Gross sales of outbound package tours in October 2011 were 67.4 billion JPY, increased by 10.8% from the year ago, while total number of tourists on package tours increased by 4.4%.