2.5m Japanese heading overseas this summer

2.5m Japanese heading overseas this summer

TOKYO (AFP): A record 2.53 million Japanese plan to travel abroad in July and August, encouraged by the strong yen and a recent cut in income taxes, the Japan Travel Bureau Inc. (JTB) said yesterday.

JTB's annual survey of summer travel showed an increase of 10.4 percent from last year, with Hawaii, South Korea, Guam, Saipan, the United States, Indonesia, Spain, France and Switzerland accounting for most of the increase.

At the same time, the number of Japanese traveling to the popular destinations of Hong Kong, China, Taiwan and Australia is expected to decline or stagnate.

Asia, the most popular destination, is expected to attract 1.02 million Japanese travelers, up six percent from a year earlier. The number of Japanese going to Hawaii, Guam, Saipan as well as the mainland United States and Canada is meanwhile expected to jumped 16 percent from a year earlier to 985,000.

Europe is projected to lure another 312,000, up eight percent, while as a group Australia, New Zealand and other South Pacific destinations are forecast to see a one percent increase in Japanese travelers to 152,000.

The number of Japanese traveling to other destinations including Africa, the Middle East and Latin America is seen jumping 45 percent to 61,000.

But Japanese travelers are also becoming stingier and having shorter holidays abroad. The average Japanese will spend 270,000 yen (US$2,700) on his or her overseas holiday, down 0.7 percent from last year. He or she is also likely to spend only 3.6 days abroad, down from 3.7 days last year, JTB said.