More Japanese going to Bali during holidays

More Japanese going to Bali during holidays

By Coco Kubota

TOKYO (DPA): The number of Japanese tourists to Bali is
expected to recover after rioting there in 1998. Bali has
recently become the "in" destination among single Japanese
females in their 20s and 30s who enjoy relaxing at expensive
hotels on the tropical island.

According to the JTB, Indonesia, including Bali, will see an
influx of 15,000 Japanese tourists over the holidays, a 166.7 per
cent increase from the year before.

Other popular destinations for Japanese tourists in Asia are
South Korea, China, Singapore and Thailand.

The JTB said 76,000 Japanese tourists will visit South Korea
this year-end season, up 128.8 per cent, while 42,000 will visit
China, up 127.3 per cent. A total of 35,000 Japanese are expected
to visit Thailand, a 134.6 per cent increase from last year.
Other popular overseas destinations include Canada, the mainland
United States and traditional favorite Hawaii, as well as
European countries.

The JTB said 83,000 Japanese are expected to visit Hawaii this
year-end season and 86,000 will visit the mainland United States,
while 82,000 will visit Europe.

The number of tourists from Japan during this year-end and New
Year holiday is expected to rise for the first time in four
years, reaching a record high of 688,000, according to Japanese
tourism specialists.

The Japan Travel Bureau (JTB), the country's biggest travel
agency, said the figure represents a rise of 149.2 percent from
last year-end season's 461,000.

The JTB said many potential Japanese visitors who had stayed
home last year because of worries about the Y2K computer bug are
going abroad this year.
" The rise was attributed to the rebound from last year's Y2K
problem and to the rises of the number of Japanese visitors to
Asian countries such as Hong Kong, Taiwan and Indonesia," said a
JTB spokesman.

The most popular destinations for the Japanese tourists are in
East Asia, where 46.5 percent of them planned to go this holiday
season. According to the JTB, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Indonesia's
Bali island are among countries of most rapidly increasing
popularity.

The number of Japanese tourists going to Taiwan is expected to
rise to 40,000 during the year-end season, up 210.5 percent from
the year earlier.

Taiwan, like South Korea, had been one of the most popular
places for Japanese tourists because of its proximity. However,
last September's powerful 7.6 Richter scale earthquake in central
Taiwan, which killed more than 2,000 people, put a damper on
Japanese tourism there.

A spokeswoman at the Taiwan Tourist Organization's Tokyo
office said the organization held a promotion campaign in
cooperation with five airline companies including Japan Airlines
this spring in an effort to encourage more Japanese tourists to
visit Taiwan.

The spokeswoman said many Japanese had refrained from going to
Taiwan because they felt sorry for the Taiwanese after the
earthquake.

"Many Japanese felt they should do 'jishuku' (self-control)
not going to Taiwan. They felt they should not have fun in a
country where the people suffered from the earthquake," said the
tourist organization official.

The official said in order to increase the number of Japanese
tourists to Taiwan, the organization asked Japanese tourists
visiting Taiwan to buy a pin for 100 yen (90 cents) as a
contribution for the relief of Taiwan's earthquake sufferers. In
return, the organization gave each Japanese tourist oolong tea
made from Taiwan when they arrived at Taipei airport.

"We tried to tell Japanese that Taiwan is safe and going to
Taiwan would help business in Taiwan," said the organization
official. She said the tourist organization spent about 50
million yen (US$446,400) for the promotion campaign.

According to JTB, the popularity of Hong Kong is expected to
rebound this year-end season for the first time since 1996, the
year before the territory was returned to China. The JTB said
about 41,000 Japanese will visit Hong Kong during the year-end
season, up 170.8 percent from the year earlier period.

"Japanese female groups, such as friends as well as a mothers
and a daughters, tend to go to Hong Kong for this year-end
holiday to enjoy shopping, eating and receiving body massages,"
said the JTB official.