[Ranking] Summer Vacation Travel 2013: Overseas – Hawaii and ASEAN are Popular, Good Sales for September

In the survey concerning overseas travel during the summer vacation in 2013 conducted by Japan Association of Travel Agents (JATA) directed at the 212 employees of their 48 member companies working in division such as sales, planning and customer counter, popular travel destinations were; 1^st Hawaii, 2^nd Singapore and 3^rd Italy (complete ranking listed below).

 Summer sales trend of the 7 major wholesalers show increased figures in the reservation status for Hawaii compared with the figures of last year, 3.9% for July, 10.9% for August and 28.3% for September. Family tours are doing especially well, with children’s experience programs being highly popular.

 Meanwhile, ASEAN countries show eminent popularity as 4 ASEAN countries such as Singapore and Thailand are included in the top 10 ranking. Reservation status for all of Asia is on the decrease for July and August compared to last year, however, the figures for Thailand for example show double-digit growth with 27.2% for July, 38.9% for August and 98.0% for September. As this year is also the 40^th anniversary year of ASEAN-Japan relationship, JATA suggests the possibility of shifting its focus from Northeast Asia to the ASEAN countries.

 In other areas, Europe showed 16.3% increase for July, 8.0% for August and 13.5% for September. Trips touring one country are popular mostly among repeated travelers to Europe. United States gained increase of 8.2% for July, 3.4% for August and 4.7% for September. Newly established airline routes to destinations such as San Jose, San Diego and Denver are popular.

 The overall reservation status decreased 11.0% for July and 4.0% for August, but increased 5.9% for September which indicates strong demand for the late summer. Another characteristics of this summer is the large number of participants in the tours which use upper-class (premium economy or business class) air seats.

 【Ranking of Popular Summer Vacation Overseas Travel Destinations 2013: Top 10】

1.  Hawaii: popular among every generation such as the young, senior and family tourists.
2.  Singapore: popular among wide variety of groups by some influence from TV advertisement.
3.  Italy: touring the country is popular mainly among seniors
4.  Thailand: along with Bangkok, cities such as Ayutthaya and Chiang Mai are popular
5.  Guam: popular among family tourists as the standard beach resort
6.  France: tours within France which include visiting Mont Saint Michel are popular
7.  Taiwan: popular as a pro-Japanese country in Asia near Japan
8.  Vietnam: not only Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, but all areas of the country are popular
9.  United State of America (Mainland): the west coast with destinations of newly established airline routes such as San Hose and San Diego are popular
10. 10.  Indonesia: luxury resorts in Bali are popular among couples, casual hotels are popular among women’s groups

Reference>>>  [Ranking] Summer Vacation Travel 2013: Domestic – Overall Double Digit Increase, Tokyo is Strong