Released just before the New Year, the latest Survey of Travel Market Trends—December 2016, 3rd quarter—from the Japan Association of Travel Agents (JATA) tells us that the travel trade community in Japan has a level of confidence in outbound travel to the USA that is exactly the same as it was one year ago (December 2015). As well, the trade’s confidence continues at the same level through the first half of 2017, according to survey results.
A closer reading of the survey report contains few surprises in its reading of international markets, but it does give some indication that the numbers look well for some specific market segments insofar as overseas travel is concerned: i.e., travel agents are feeling confident in their outlook for the honeymoon, family, female office worker, student and senior markets.
We’ve included the two most important tables from the survey below. It’s relatively easy to translate the value of the numbers in the tables; just refer to “A Note on Methodology” following the tables.
A Note on Methodology: The Japan Association of Travel Agents (JATA) asks all member companies to register as survey monitors. JATA conducts the quarterly Survey of Travel Market Trends involving 548 registered companies and publishes the results. The Survey of Travel Market Trends is designed to grasp trends in the travel market based on responses to questions on current conditions and those anticipated over the next three months. The survey asks participating companies to rate their sales results for each destination and customer segment by choosing from three categories: “good,” “average,” and “poor.” For items outside their business scope, respondents select “do not handle.” Each share of “good,” “average,” and “poor” is then divided respectively by the denominator, which is equal to the total number of responses minus the “do not handle” (including “no reply”) responses. Finally, each share is processed into the Diffusion Index (DI) by subtracting the percentage of “poor” from the percentage of “good.” The highest possible index figure is +100, and the lowest is -100.
This was an Internet survey, conducted from Nov. 4 to Nov. 22, 2016. The number of registered companies surveyed was 573; the number of responding companies responding was 318. Response rate: 55.5 percent.
Following is a breakdown of the companies included in the JATA survey.
