Released a full quarter behind its usually scheduled release date, the latest Survey of Travel Market Trends—the survey results are based on interviews conducted for second quarter of 2017—from the Japan Association of Travel Agents (JATA) nonetheless tells us that the travel trade community in Japan has a level of confidence in outbound travel to the USA that has not differed markedly for the past two years. The trade’s level of confidence for outbound travel to the USA and Canada extends through the remainder of this year. Confidence in the Hawaii product remains strong.
As for specific segments that comprise the Japanese travel marketing, the JATA Survey reported that: business and technical visits and incentive tours, which declined during the January – March quarter, enjoy good demand. Educational tours and students have dropped remarkably while working women and solo travelers are enjoying a moderate recovery.
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 May 22 to June 12, 2017. The number of registered companies surveyed was 614; the number of responding companies responding was 341. Response rate: 55.5 percent.
To access the full JATA survey report, visit:
https://www.jata-net.or.jp/english/reports/2017/pdf/170610_markettrends.pdf
