Activity Reports

Webinar on Japan’s Overseas Travel Trend and How Japanese Young People View Sustainable / ASEAN Tourism

2023/06/09

ASEAN-Japan Centre held a webinar “Japan’s overseas travel trend and How Japanese young people view sustainable and ASEAN tourism.

This webinar was conducted in English to report to the stakeholders in the AMS on the result of the youth survey on sustainable / ASEAN tourism conducted in FY2022, along with an analysis of outbound trends in Japan. It was conducted as part of AJC’s capacity program for tourism stakeholders in the AMS. (45 participants)

Japanese overseas travel market in the past

In 1964, overseas travel was liberated in Japan. In the webinar, we reviewed how popular overseas travel destinations and travel styles have shifted and changed. Immediately after the liberation, business travel and male group tours were majority. It became more diversified over the years with travel styles such as “Joshi Tabi (girl-only travel)”, family travel, student travel and three-generation travel and others.

Latest information on Japanese overseas travel market

Japan is often compared with China and ROK as source market to tourism in the ASEAN Member States, and recovery of arrival from Japan post-COVID19 is slower comparatively. Inbound travel to Japan has recovered to 70% of pre-pandemic level, but for outbound travel, it is only 40% of what it used to be. Its causes were fathomed during the webinar and initiatives of the Japanese government and the Japan Association of Travel Agents’ (JATA) to support the outbound travel were introduced as well.

Japanese young people’s view on sustainable tourism

Based on the survey report which AJC released in February 2023, AJC shared with the audiences how Japanese young people view sustainable tourism and AMS as travel destination. Japanese young people who joined the survey have keen interest in nature and environment protection, through studying about UNSDGs in schools. However, when asked if they would pay extra for sustainable travel products, only 44.2% replied YES. The webinar introduced practical ideas to appeal to Gen Z and millennials, that value-added, crafted, and special experiences may be suitable.