TOKYO >> As Japanese individuals progressively start to eye worldwide journey once more after the pandemic, Hawaii stays the highest dream vacation spot for Japanese vacationers, in accordance with analysis by journey companies and the Japanese authorities.
“Hawaii remained the No. 1 destination to want to visit for the past 16 consecutive years,” mentioned Takashi Watanabe, director of worldwide affairs for the Japanese authorities’s workplace overseeing tourism.
But in Hawaii, trade leaders say the return of Japanese tourism has been slower than many hoped.
Watanabe mentioned Japanese worldwide journey is rebounding slowly after the COVID-19 pandemic and that financial challenges such because the depreciating worth of the yen are enjoying a job. Operators in Japan’s journey businesses say tales in Japanese media about rising prices of journey in Hawaii itself are additionally giving Japanese vacationers pause.
Hiroyuki Furukawa, supervisor of the Hawaii part for Japanese journey company HIS Co. Ltd., instructed the Honolulu Star-Advertiser, “The way that the Japanese media outlets covered the situation was overexaggerated, I would say. For example, they said a bowl of ramen is $30, which is 500 yen.”
Hawaii has lengthy been a well-liked vacation spot for Japanese vacationers, partially due to cultural similarities — few locations exterior of Japan have as a lot acquainted meals or as many Japanese audio system as Hawaii does.
“Hawaii has been a kind of dream island for Japanese people,” mentioned Yoshi Hase, a 50-year-old engineer who was visiting Tokyo together with his son. He immigrated to the United States years in the past and now lives in San Jose, Calif., and has visited Hawaii 3 times since. He instructed the Star-Advertiser that “the culture is in between the U.S. and Japan.”
“I can feel Japan if I’m in Hawaii, in terms of the food and people,” Hase mentioned. “I see lots of Japanese faces when I’m there, and the Japanese food is much better than the mainland’s.”
Ai Shigaru, a 64-year-old physician in Tokyo, mentioned he’s by no means visited the Aloha State however that he has a picture of Hawaii because the “best islands in the world,” and he would love to go to.
Yoko Hayano, chief advisor with Tokyo-based JTB Tourism Research & Consulting, instructed the Star-Advertiser that Japanese celebrities often go to, and in some instances personal properties in Hawaii, and that photos of the islands are frequent in Japanese media. She mentioned that “the perception of Hawaii has remained almost the same” and that it’s largely seen as “compatible with Japanese tastes.”
But Keisuke Nago, a 20-year-old school pupil from Tokyo learning economics, mentioned that “a trip to Hawaii seems to be more expensive than it used to be before. … Compared to the past, we find that it’s a little less attractive.” He mentioned that whereas he’d love to go to Hawaii, he would extra realistically gravitate towards cheaper journey locations in Southeast Asia.
Kota Aiharu, a 21-year-old learning physics, mentioned he’ll go to Bali later this 12 months. He instructed the Star-Advertiser that “the yen has really depreciated a lot, and we don’t have a lot of money, and the image of Hawaii is too expensive for me; it’s for wealthy people.”
Aiharu mentioned he desires to swim within the ocean, get pleasure from nature and pattern native delicacies and that “if I had a lot of money, then I’d definitely want to go to Hawaii.”
Japanese vacationers already had begun shifting towards cheaper locations earlier than the pandemic, notably locations served by low-cost carriers, particularly in Southeast Asia. There additionally has been a shift towards home journey inside Japan.
Hayano mentioned the depreciation of the yen has revealed “a sort of polarization of the people who can go overseas and those who can’t.”
But Furukawa mentioned all developments point out that Japanese individuals wish to start touring the world once more. He famous that throughout the pandemic many Japanese residents had their passports expire, and it’ll take time for even those that wish to journey to get paperwork straightened out.
Japanese journey abroad started to develop quickly starting in 1986 because the yen’s worth rose amid Japan’s development into a worldwide financial juggernaut. Over the many years, world occasions just like the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist assaults and the outbreak of the SARS epidemic triggered fluctuations in outbound journey, however in 2019 Japan noticed its largest variety of residents touring internationally with greater than 20 million Japanese going overseas, in accordance with Japanese authorities knowledge.
In 2020 the COVID-19 pandemic triggered a historic collapse of worldwide journey worldwide. Japanese journey between 2020 and 2022 was at its lowest since 1976, in accordance with Japanese authorities statistics. However, 2023 noticed a large leap — from simply over 2 million Japanese vacationers in 2022 to greater than 9 million.
Though the general numbers are nonetheless a fraction of the pre-pandemic variety of Japanese vacationers, of those that are touring, the proportion of Japanese individuals who select to go to Hawaii has remained “flattish,” mentioned Hayano. She cited a report by her agency that discovered that in 2002 about 9.2% of Japanese touring internationally selected Hawaii, and in 2023 it was 8.7%. She mentioned that demonstrates a comparatively steady demand.
Data from Japanese journey businesses reveals Hawaii is hottest with seniors, notably males over 60. Furukawa mentioned households and youthful individuals are more and more fearful that they will’t afford a visit to Hawaii, notably with the unfold of news tales throughout Japanese media specializing in households who spent large sums of cash throughout their journeys.
“We hear that hotel costs are up to 20% in Waikiki,” mentioned Watanabe, who added, “I’ve never been to Hawaii, to be honest, but I’d love to visit Hawaii.”
However, Furukawa argued that plenty of the tales circulating in Japanese media are likely to deal with individuals who went to costly locations in Waikiki. Though he acknowledged that going out might be expensive, he mentioned different Japanese guests have discovered methods to be a lot thriftier and deliberate with their spending. He mentioned most of his firm’s purchasers who returned mentioned that whereas Hawaii was costly, it wasn’t almost as pricey as many had anticipated.
“(There has) been a wide gap in the perception about going to Hawaii between the people who worked up the courage to go there and the people who are still hesitant,” Furukawa mentioned.
Watanabe mentioned that of Japanese individuals who journey to Hawaii, 40% of these surveyed mentioned they go often, with 60% returning three or extra occasions. Notably, 10% mentioned they had been going to go to relations or buddies dwelling in Hawaii.
Furukawa mentioned directing purchasers towards Hawaii’s accommodations, eating places and different companies that cater to vacationers is greater than only a job for him. He beforehand spent 5 years working at his firm’s department in Honolulu and lived in Waikiki. He mentioned that in that point he made buddies and acquaintances throughout Hawaii — a lot of them working in these industries.
“So more or less, I would like to protect their jobs by sending many Japanese tourists,” Furukawa mentioned. “I think, How I can return the favor for my friends who are living in Hawaii?”
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Kevin Knodell reported on this story as a part of a fellowship with the Foreign Press Center Japan.