Japan Tourism Agency has released a preliminary report for travel trading condition of 50 major travel agents (for August 2014.) According to the report, total trading volume - sum of outbound, domestic and inbound travels, were 713.65 billion with 0.3% decrease compared with last year. The decrease was caused by typhoons which struck Japan repeatedly this year and suppresses the growth of overseas and domestic travel markets.
Details of the trading conditions of each field as follows.
▼Outbound travels
Volume of business for overseas travel was 253.18 billion, 1.0% decrease compared with last year and it turned downward in 4 months since April. It was caused by number of last minute cancellations made by tourists afraid of flights being disturbed by typhoons. Agent organized tours decreased in trading volume by 4.3% to 99.05 billion yen and also decreased in the number of tourists by 12.9%, 0.41 million. Trading volume of the top 5 travel agents shown in a chart below.
▼Inbound travels
Concerning inbound travels, travelers from Southeast Asian countries, where relaxed visa program apply, continued to increase to be 7.66 billion yen, 27.8% growth compared with last year. Agent organized tours showed steady growth in both the trade volume- 0.30 billion yen, 3.6% increase, and in the number of the travelers- 17.07 thousand, 19.1% increase. Trading volume of inbound travels for the top 5 travel agents shown in a chart below. Trading volume for TOPTOUR sharply increased by 27.6%, however Rakuten Travel which ranked in the 5th previous month dropped to the 6th.
▼Domestic travels
Domestic travels, as well as outbound travels, were negatively affected by typhoons. Its trading volume decreased to be 452.82 billion yen, 0.3% decrease compared with last year. Agent organized tours decreased in both the trade volume- 133.84 billion yen, 1.6% decrease, and in the number of the travelers- 4.37 million, 7.2% decrease.
Trading volume of domestic travels for the top 5 travel agents shown in a chart below.
(Travel Voice Editorial Department)
