Japan Golden Week "Up to 10 Days Off"... Top Travel Destination 'Korea'

20% of Overseas Travelers Visit Korea First
Record Low Yen Boosts Travel to Asia

Japan's representative golden holiday, Golden Week (April 27 to May 6), began on the 27th, and various places were crowded with travelers. On this day, Japan's NHK reported that as Golden Week started, highways were congested from the morning, and several airports were bustling with crowds.

Golden Week is a period in early May when public holidays such as Constitution Memorial Day, Greenery Day, and Children's Day are clustered. This year, by taking three days off, people can have a maximum of 10 consecutive days off until May 6.

The morning of the 27th, when Golden Week began, at Haneda Airport in Tokyo, Japan.
[Photo by Yonhap News]

Earlier, Narita Airport estimated that the number of departures through Narita from April 26 to May 6 would reach 438,500, a 35% increase compared to last year.

Japan's major travel agency JTB also projected that the number of domestic and international tourists during this year's Golden Week would reach 23.32 million, a 1.8% increase compared to the same period last year.

This is about 90% of the Golden Week level in 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic. The number of domestic travelers in Japan is expected to increase by 0.9% year-on-year to 22.8 million. Overseas tourists are projected to increase by 67.7% year-on-year to 520,000.

The number of Japanese tourists visiting Korea during Japan's Golden Week is also expected to increase. In a survey conducted last month by JTB targeting about 2,000 people, among respondents considering overseas travel during Golden Week, the largest share, 20.8%, chose Korea as their travel destination, followed by Southeast Asia (16.7%) and Taiwan (13.5%).

The most common travel duration was '3 nights and 4 days (27.1%)', followed by '2 nights and 3 days (16.7%)'. The top three preferred travel destinations were Korea (20.8%), Southeast Asia (16.7%), and Taiwan (13.5%).

(This photo is not directly related to the article.) [Photo source=Pixabay]

Seoul also ranked first in the overseas travel search rankings for Golden Week announced by Expedia Japan. In last year's survey, Seoul ranked fourth after Okinawa, Taipei, and Bangkok.

With the Japanese yen showing a record-level weakness, this year Japanese tourists tend to prefer overseas travel destinations that are relatively less expensive. Kyodo News introduced the atmosphere on the first day of Golden Week, reporting that not only Narita Airport but also Haneda Airport and Shinkansen stations were crowded with travelers from the morning.

Meanwhile, Korean travel to Japan continues to show steady strength.

According to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, in the first quarter of this year, travelers on Japan routes numbered 6.2 million, accounting for about 29% of all routes (21.6 million). This figure is even higher compared to 2019, before COVID-19 (5.85 million).