1.Japan Outbound Travel in Brief
The number of Japanese travelling abroad rose in 2006 to the second highest ever of 17,534,565, increasing by 0.8%. The figures for 2007 show a slight decline to 17,295,000, a fall of -1.3% from the previous year.
One cannot be　too optimistic about the outbound travel market in 2008. The Japanese economy is still unstable on account of several social issues such as the increase in unemployment rate among the younger generation, the skyrocketing increase in crude oil prices and an aging population. Rise in airfare including fuel surcharge, package tour price and weak Yen against several currencies such as Euro and Australian dollars could create extra drag on the market.

1.1 Recent Trends in Japan Travel Market
In 2007, the international departure of Japanese declined without major changes in travel environment for the first time in the history. The decline is still continuing as of June 2008.
Possible causes for the recent slow market are:
a. a decrease in population of younger generations
b. relatively slow growth of elder market
c. rise of international airfares and overseas tour prices
d. a sharp rise of fuel surcharges
e. short supply of air seats to major holiday destinations
f. competition with domestic destination and recreational activities other than travel

1.2 Slow Recovery of Female Market
By gender, number of male travellers has been stable since 2004. It has already surpassed the figure in 2000. However, number of female travellers has been largely swayed. It hit the highest in history with 8.3 million in 2000, and has not exceeded this record ever since. Some of the female travelers have obviously left overseas travel market after 9.11 and SARS epidemics with the concern of safety and security of traveling.
Another factor that should be kept in mind is a continuous decline of women in their 20s. In 1990s, this age group was the largest and the most influential market segment in the Japanese outbound travel market. In 1994, 17.5% of the international travelers were women in their 20s. Now the figure is down to just around 10%. Factors contributing to the decline are decrease in the population of younger generation, decrease in the average disposal income of young workers and their lack of interest in overseas travel. Unlike Korean young women who are active in traveling internationally, Japanese youth today try to avoid the trouble related to overseas travel and prefer staying at home with a mobile phone in their hand.
On the other hand, we see a steady increase of senior travelers and women in their 30s.

1.3 Major Destinations Today
Korea used to be the top destination for Japanese outbound travelers for many years until the Japanese arrival to China outnumbered that of Korea in 2002. These two leading destinations are followed by Hong Kong, Hawaii, Thailand, Taiwan and Hawaii. Since the end of last year, we observe a decline of Japanese visitors to China, largely due to concern for safety and security of traveling in China. Poisoned dumplings made in China were found in Japan, immediately followed by Tibet Issues, which have discouraged Japanese to visit China.

1.4 A Shift from Long-haul Destinations to Asian Destinations
Over the last decade, there has been a shift of Japanese international travelers from traditional long-haul destinations to short-haul destinations mostly in Asia. In the background of this shift in destination are increasing business traffic within Asia and an increase in air seat supply to China and Korea coupled with downsizing of aircrafts for transpacific and European routes. As a result of the airlines policies to further concentrate their seat allocation to profitable business passengers, the supply of economy class seat for leisure market has been reduced.

1.5 Bipolarization
Another recent trend that should be noted is 'bipolarization'. Japan has long been considered to be a equal society; a society where there is no big gap between the rich and the poor. Some say that Japan is more equal society than most of the communist countries. Today the allocation of wealth seems not as equal as it used to be.
An analysis of travel cost of Japanese overseas traveler reveals an increase in low cost travelers and high spenders and slight decrease in those who spend around average amount of money on their international trip. On one side, there are consumers who are extremely price conscious whilst some other people seek for luxury travel. Japan Airlines manager told me that there has been a sharp increase of business class seats used by Japanese holiday travelers.

2 Korea as Destination for Japanese Travelers
The number of Japanese travelers to China surpassed that to Korea in 2002. China has continued its growth as a destination for Japanese, whilst Japanese arrival to Korea has been on a slight decline after it hit the record high in 2005. What made the difference in traffic trends of Japanese between Korea and China? A comparison of the two destinations may help us understand the reason for rapid growth of China and slow down of Japanese visitor traffic to Korea.

2.1 Who Travel to Korea
Men in their 30s and 40s have long been the largest market segment among Japanese visitors to Korea. A considerable proportion of male traffic is business people who fly to and back from Korea every month or even more frequently.
The proportion of female travelers has gradually grown over the years to 47% now. Amongst the female travelers, those in their 20s are the largest segment whose share accounts for 12.5% of all Japanese visiting Korea. As discussed earlier, women in their 20s have been on a decline since the figure hit the peak in 1997. Korea is one of the few destinations that see an increased share of young women among Japanese visitor arrival.
In contrast, three quarters of Japanese visitor to China are males, particularly those aged 30 to 60 years. This is an indication that a large proportion of Japanese visitors to China are business people who frequent between China and Japan. Even though a large difference exists between the sex/age distribution of Japanese travelers to Korea and China, the growth of Japanese visitation to China is largely dependent on business traffic. Hence, the difference in volume of leisure travelers may not be as large.

2.2 Access from Japan
2.2.1 Air access from Japan
Japanese visitors' gateways in Korea are limited to four international airports including Jeju and the port of Busan Nearly 80% of flights from Japan to Korea arrive at two airports in Metropolitan Seoul, Incheon and Gimpo. On the other hand, currently 25 airports in Japan have total of 478 scheduled flights per week to Korea. The flights connecting local airport in Japan and Seoul provide convenience to travelers in both countries. Japanese who live far from the major international airports find such flights a window open to the world. They use these flights not only to visit Korea but also to travel farther to other international destinations via Incheon airport as a hub. For experienced Korean travelers to Japan, direct flights from Seoul to local cities in Japan make it easier to extend their trip to various regions that are otherwise difficult to visit by ground transportation from one of the major international airports in Japan.
In China, as many as 21 airports are directly connected by total of 828 flights per week from Japan. Although Shanghai's two airports, Pudong and Hongqiao, receive 37% of the flights from Japan, air traffic is widely distributed to Beijing and other regional airport such as Guangzhou, Dalian, Qingdao and Hangzhou. 17 airports in Japan serve as gateway to China, however, China-Japan traffic is heavily concentrated to four major international airports; 88% of total flights to China operate from Tokyo-Narita, Tokyo-Haneda, Nagoya and Osaka-Kansai aiports.
Difference in the distribution of airports served by flights connecting the two countries and Japan shows the difference in travel market. Concentration of outbound air traffic to Incheon and Gimpo airport indicates that a large majority of Korean tourists to Japan are from Seoul and its suburbs. They travel to many different places throughout Japan using well-developed air routes connecting Seoul and 24 airports in Japan. Japanese tourists to Korea, who are interested in city break in Seoul, are happy to use direct flights that originate from their nearby local airport. Traffic between Japan and China is largely of business purpose. High concentration of air traffic to Japan's three major cities; Tokyo, Osaka and Nagoya, is a result of heavy business traffic originating in these economic centers. 21 airports in China with direct flight connection to Japan are mostly located in industrialized city or business center of the provinces, except for Guilin. Flights are scheduled for the convenience of Japanese business people who visit the offices and factories of their global operation. These flights to regional airports in China also provide Japanese tourists opportunities to visit tourist destinations around the region. This, I believe, one of the major factors supporting the growth of Japanese visitation to China.

2.2 Access from Japan
2.2.1 Air access from Japan
Japanese visitors' gateways in Korea are limited to four international airports including Jeju and the port of Busan Nearly 80% of flights from Japan to Korea arrive at two airports in Metropolitan Seoul, Incheon and Gimpo. On the other hand, currently 25 airports in Japan have total of 478 scheduled flights per week to Korea. The flights connecting local airport in Japan and Seoul provide convenience to travelers in both countries. Japanese who live far from the major international airports find such flights a window open to the world. They use these flights not only to visit Korea but also to travel farther to other international destinations via Incheon airport as a hub. For experienced Korean travelers to Japan, direct flights from Seoul to local cities in Japan make it easier to extend their trip to various regions that are otherwise difficult to visit by ground transportation from one of the major international airports in Japan.
In China, as many as 21 airports are directly connected by total of 828 flights per week from Japan. Although Shanghai's two airports, Pudong and Hongqiao, receive 37% of the flights from Japan, air traffic is widely distributed to Beijing and other regional airport such as Guangzhou, Dalian, Qingdao and Hangzhou. 17 airports in Japan serve as gateway to China, however, China-Japan traffic is heavily concentrated to four major international airports; 88% of total flights to China operate from Tokyo-Narita, Tokyo-Haneda, Nagoya and Osaka-Kansai aiports.
Difference in the distribution of airports served by flights connecting the two countries and Japan shows the difference in travel market. Concentration of outbound air traffic to Incheon and Gimpo airport indicates that a large majority of Korean tourists to Japan are from Seoul and its suburbs. They travel to many different places throughout Japan using well-developed air routes connecting Seoul and 24 airports in Japan. Japanese tourists to Korea, who are interested in city break in Seoul, are happy to use direct flights that originate from their nearby local airport. Traffic between Japan and China is largely of business purpose. High concentration of air traffic to Japan's three major cities; Tokyo, Osaka and Nagoya, is a result of heavy business traffic originating in these economic centers. 21 airports in China with direct flight connection to Japan are mostly located in industrialized city or business center of the provinces, except for Guilin. Flights are scheduled for the convenience of Japanese business people who visit the offices and factories of their global operation. These flights to regional airports in China also provide Japanese tourists opportunities to visit tourist destinations around the region. This, I believe, one of the major factors supporting the growth of Japanese visitation to China.

2.2.2 Sea Access from Japan
Korea is the only country that has mass transit access by the sea. Last year more than 400,000 people, Korean and Japanese departed from Hakata Port in Fukuoka. This figure represents nearly 10% of the passenger traffic between Korea and Japan. Travel time between Fukuoka and Busan is less than three hours by jetfoil boat. This convenient transportation connecting the two countries contributes a great deal to travel market in Kyushu. For the people in Fukuoka, a trip to Busan is even more casual and easier than a trip to Tokyo.

2.2.3 Secondary Transportation from Gateway Cities to the Destinations
Once Japanese visitors arrive at Incheon Airport, access to downtown Seoul is easy and convenient with limousine buses that take you to a number of different areas in Seoul. When the visitors are on a tour, a chartered vehicle takes them directly to their hotel or the first sightseeing site in their itinerary. However, visitors who want to go to a place other than City of Seoul may find it difficult to get their destination from the airport. For repeat visitors to Korea, it is rather easy; they would go either to Korail Seoul Station to catch a train or to the Central Express Bus Terminal to use frequent express bus service for their designated destination. Such can be exercised only by those who are quite familiar with Korean transportation system and who understands some Korean language. Otherwise, they are at a loss once they get off at a bus depot at a local city.
In China, secondary transportation is even less convenient than in Korea, but this is not a big issue for Japanese tourists who want to visit places that are located in rural areas. Because a majority of visitors to China participate in a tour group with chartered bus or van escorted by a Chinese tour guide, except for those who a take city break tour to Shanghai, Beijing and other major cities.

2.3 Destination Marketing
Around the turn of the century, I referred to Korea as a country which is active in destination marketing. Japanese government had not yet launched Visit Japan Campaign; maybe it was when some people began to recognize the importance of tourism as an industry that creates a large impact on local economy and employment. Korean government at that time had already allocated four times as large amount of budget for marketing Korea internationally as Japan. I remember former President, Kim Dae Jung appeared in the TV commercial to promote the country he was representing. In many ways, marketing activities of KNTO was far ahead of what Japan National Tourist Organization was doing in those days. In fact, a few years later, Japanese government produced a commercial film featuring Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi.
Several years later, today, destination marketing activities by KTO and other organizations in Korea are primarily focused on food, massage and shopping. The top page of KTO website has following tags: culture & entertainment, gourmet and shopping. You will be lost where to go within the website if you want information of destinations that are related to ancient history of Korea and Japan. You can hardly find information of spectacular view of southern Korea coast or natural wonder of Jingdo.
Consequently, most of Japanese travel companies' product lines up are limited to tours to Seoul, Busan and Jeju, and customers who want to visit and stay in other destinations in Korea must have their itinerary arranged individually. I visited a few travel agents and asked the travel consultant if they offer any package tours to Korean historical cities such as Buyeo and Gyeongju. Their answers were almost identical: They first look puzzled when they heard 'Buyeo' and Gyeongju. Obviously, they are not familiar with these destinations. After finding out that I am looking for package tours to somewhere other than Seoul or Busan, they kindly tell me that a majority of travelers to Korea go to Seoul and some to Busan, Chungcheon and Jeju, but few go to other destinations in Korea. And finally they suggested I should arrange itinerary individually or buy a package tour to Seoul and make a day excursion trip from Seoul.
On the other hand, the line up of tours to China includes not only Beijing and Shanghai, also a number of cities and destinations in China. Travel agents are quite knowledgeable about destinations and tourist attractions in China. One of the reasons for the growth of Japanese tourist traffic to China over the last several years is that new destinations were introduced to the market and simultaneously new products to those destinations were added to the product line up. Therefore, even repeat visitors to China can always find new destinations they want to visit for their next trip.

2.4 From Korean Wave to Japan Wave: What Comes After Bae Yong Joon?
Last December, when I was in Seoul to interview Korean travel firms that handle tours to Japan, I happen to find an article in Chosun Ilbo's Japanese website. It was titled, "Hallyu Gets Stuck, Ilyu Develops". The article discusses that the Korean travelers to Japan outnumbered Japanese visitors to Korea in 2007, largely because Korea has not made enough efforts to attract Japanese people to Korean culture after the 'Korean Wave' peaked in 2004-2005; the government depended too much on a handful of stars such as Bae Yong Joon and Choi Ji Woo.
In the mean time, Japan has steadily made efforts to introduce its modern popular culture to young people in Korea in success. Last year alone, more than 80 Japanese films were shown in Korea; Kimura Takuya, Odagiri Jo and a number of other Japanese movie/drama stars are also popular here in Korea. Not only movie and drama, Illyu has been so absorbed in youngsters' mind that some of them come to prefer anything that is Japanese, music, fashion, game, food and language.
Every day and night, we see Korean visitors arriving at airports and major international ports throughout Japan. Young people plan to do shopping at a number of fashion retail outlets in Tokyo and Osaka, families look forward to their visit to Tokyo Disney Resort and Sanrio Puroland to see Mickey and Kitty, and middle aged men are excited with 72-hole golf play during their three day stay in Japan. Many of them enjoy outdoor onsen bathing and authentic Japanese dinner at a traditional Japanese ryokan in Kyushu. If you visit Suginoi Hotel in Beppu in winter time, you will find that 80% of their 650 rooms are occupied by Korean guests. You can hardly have a chance to hear Japanese there.

3 Korea: A New Destination in Neighborhood
I have discussed so far that although Korea is second largest destination for Japanese overseas travel market, the awareness of tourist resources and attractions in Korea is still very limited to two major cities with food, massages and some footprints of stars that are well-known in Japan.
Considering the convenient access and familiarity to Japan, Korea has a great opportunity to be re-discovered by Japanese as an exiting destination in their neighborhood.

3.1 Korea Is Not Only Seoul, Busan and Jeju
The key to re-discovery is to market destinations and tourist attractions other than Seoul, Busan and Jeju to change the destination image of Korea.
Please look at the package tour brochures on the slides. Most of the flyers for tours to Korea have pictures of food, jjimjilbang and city view on the front page. Few of them feature natural beauty or cultural attractions of Korea.
In contrast, on the pamphlets of tours to China, you will find pictures of different kinds of attractions, such as the Great Wall, Great Hall of the People, natural beauty of Jiuzhaigou Valley and giant pandas. This gives you an image of China being very rich with diverse tourism resources.

3.2 Untapped Tourism Resources
Korea may still have a many 'untapped tourism resources' which are currently visited and enjoyed only by local people. These are, in many cases, not recognized as tourism resources for international visitors but as a part of everyday local life or attraction only for domestic visitors.
I recall an impressive story of a small village in Finland, which I heard from director of Finnish Tourism Board. It goes: More than a decade ago, an officer of Finish Tourism Board made a visit to a small village in Northern Norway. He had a meeting with village people and proposed a plan to market this village to Japan as 'a place to see northern lights (aurora)'. The leaders of the village laughed at the idea saying, 'Who, in the world, would come all the way from Japan just to see the northern lights? There is nothing special about northern lights. We see them every night in winter time!' Ten years later, the village is visited by thousands of Japanese who come all the way from Japan, spending 7 to 10 days and several thousand dollars to see the northern lights. For the Japanese visitors, it is a once-in-a-lifetime experience, even though it is nothing more than a part of every day life for the villagers. Now, most of the village people know a few basic words in Japanese, and say 'Konnichiwa' and 'Ohayo gozaimasu', when they see Japanese guests.
Likewise, there must be many places in this country that may not appear to be 'special' or 'extraordinary' to local people, and, therefore, have never been considered as tourism resources, but are attractive in the eyes of people with different cultural back ground.

3.3 Attractiveness Unknown to Japan Market
I studied a detailed tourist guidebook of Korea. Many places other than Seoul, Busan and Jeju also appear quite attractive to me, none of which are heavily visited by Japanese tourists. It is a pity that the treasures of Korea are kept hidden from general public of Japanese. You might argue that they are not hidden, because they are introduced in guide books and tourist information is available on your official Tour2Korea web site. But how would they know about those tourist attractions unless they are introduced in more popular guide books or included in tour brochures? The best way to let Japanese people know about the 'unknown' attractiveness in Korea is to expose them in mass media, such as newspaper, magazines or TV, by inviting media reporters to familiarization trip to these places. Many of the destinations in Japan have made a great effort to invite travel planners and travel reporters from Korea to have them experience attractiveness of the destinations 'unknown' to Korea, before they succeed in receiving tourists from Korea.

3.4 Increasing Access to Korean Regional Cities
Public and private sector of Korean tourism stakeholders should collaborate to open air routes between Japan and regional airports in Korea that would enable Japanese visitors to further explore the attractiveness of this country. There are challenges. It is extremely difficult to get additional slots at Tokyo-Narita Airport, and if a carrier succeeds in winning additional slots, it is likely to use them for most profitable Seoul flights. An airline that would plan to operate flights between Japan and regional city in Korea might be concerned about whether they can have enough passengers from both countries to fill the seats, as they would not be able to expect big traffic of business people.

3.5 Easier Ways to Get Around in Korea for Japanese Individual Visitors
Korean cities are well connected to one another by bus, rail and airline. It does not necessarily mean it is easy for Japanese tourists to get around Korea. They cannot read the signs written in Hangeul and they cannot speak in Korean to ask for help once they are lost or get in a trouble. Getting around Seoul and Busan is much easier because of English and Japanese signs and the language assistance system available on board taxis. For those Japanese visitors who are uncomfortable to use public transportation, offer them day tours of the city and surrounding areas with Japanese speaking guide.
As discussed earlier, getting around individually in Korea is a challenge for an average Japanese visitor. KR Pass should be promoted more to Japan market to encourage Japanese people to freely travel within Korea. Additionally, a pass for long distance buses would be a great help for Japanese individual travelers to visit the corners of this beautiful country.

3.6 Treasure Hunt Tourism Resources Original to Korea
In order to draw attention of Japan outbound travel market to Korea once again, new attractiveness of Korea should be identified and marketed to Japan. A 'new' attraction does not have to be something newly created; it may be something that have long existed and enjoyed by Korean people but not well known to Japanese. Look at the success in marketing Japanese 'onsen' and 'ryokan' to Korean travel market. I hear that bathing in hot spring is not a traditional custom for Koreans and ryokans are not considered to be luxury accommodations. Today, many Korean visitors come to Japan to enjoy stay at a deluxe ryokan with outdoor onsen. They appreciate authentic Japanese dinner served at the ryokan's Japanese style guest room. There is nothing 'new' about Japanese ryokan. This is the way they have served Japanese guests for many years. What is new is that they now serve international guests including Koreans.
Similarly, Korea should have a number of tourism treasures that have been enjoyed mainly by Koreans or only by local people in the country. Let's treasure hunt! Identify the traditional local tourism resources that are only seen, felt and experienced in Korea. Find out what are unique to Korea. Create tourism products and market them to Japan and other travel market in Asia.

3.7 Korean Stars Bridge the Distance
Finally, just as Japanese Wave originates in the introduction of Japanese modern culture to Korea, Korean artists and athletes are becoming more and more popular in Japan. BoA, Sonin and Kim Yu-Na are good example of Korean stars who are better known and better accepted by Japanese people than President Lee. They certainly help promote good image of Korea to Japanese public. Why not have them help familiarize Japanese to their country?