JTB and JTB Tourism Research & Consulting released results of  their combined  survey to grasp how Japanese people’s minds for restart of traveling have changed under the COVID-19 crisis.

When JTB asks when you restart your travel, the most answers are seen in ‘when therapeutic agents or vaccines are available publicly (45.6%),’ followed by ‘when the state of emergency declaration is lifted (43.8%)’ and ‘when WHO declares the end of the pandemic (33.9%).’

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Also, the ratio of ‘when nobody around you blames your travel’ is higher among females (26.8%) than among males, and the ratio of ‘when local communities welcome outside travelers’ is higher among males (23%) than among females. 

Interestingly, the ratios of ‘when public transportation is resumed (13.8%) and of ‘when a government’s campaign boosting travel demand begins (12.9%)’ are relatively low, which shows a different trend from the previous natural disaster cases. 

Asked what kind of travel you choose when you restart traveling, the most answers are found in ‘visiting friends (24.4%),’ followed by ‘traveling in nature (19.3%)’ and ‘homecoming visit (18%).’ On the contrary, 55.5% don’t want to visit a big city, and 48.1% don’t want to travel abroad for the time being. For overseas travel, young females show their positive attitude, while 14.6% of 60 years old or older females say ‘never want to go.’

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Meanwhile, the JTB Tourism Research & Consulting’s survey finds that the ratio of people who plan to travel in 2020 was down 48.1% in February to 44.1% in March, 31.9% in April, when the state of emergency declaration was effective, and 32.2% in May. 

On a question of when you restart traveling to around 1,000 respondents who have domestic travel plans in 2020, the most answers ware found in Silver Week holiday period in September with the ratio of 34.4% as of May. 

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Regarding overseas travel, the ratio of Silver Week holiday period is 28.7%, followed by November or December (25.5%), as of May. Preferable destinations are Hawaii, Southeast Asia and Taiwan. 

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Asked why you don’t have travel plans or why you consider cancelation, anxiety about COVID-19 is still high, and the ratio of people who worry about bad public images raises to 12% in May from 5.5% in March for domestic travel and to 16.2% in May from 5.9% in March for overseas travel. 

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