JAPANESE TRAVELLERS LOOKING FOR SOMETHING DIFFERENT

According to Tenshin Kobayashi, the director of the Evolution Tourism Institute, Japanese travellers are losing their interest in traditional travel products and looking for "distinctive tours and fresh destinations." During the 2006 PATA Travel Mart in Hong Kong, Kobayashi joined a panel that included Marriott International Global sales vice-president-Japan Victor Osumi and Travel Journal chief operating officer Kiyotaka Kaburaki, to discuss Japanese outbound tourism.

Noting that the Japanese currently spend twice as much on cell phones as they do on international travel, Kobayashi said that the travel preferences of Japan's 37 million passport holders are increasingly shifting from passive to active; fast to slow; general to specific; short to long; look to experience; famous to unique; money to time; shopping to memory; and the list goes on. According to Victor Osumi: "Today's generation of traveller is looking for customized and individualized products with `simple-is-best' originality." In his view, the Japanese are becoming more individualistic, and he says: "Japanese now pay more attention to their individual needs rather than society's expectations. Self-priority is cool in Japan." Osumi continued that: "Original and simple are considered a new trend among luxury and premium [Japanese]travellers. Heritage and culture is also considered classy and elegant." And in line with the global trend, Japanese consumers are pursuing lifestyles of health and sustainability. "Being fit and healthy is considered cool. Exercises like yoga, boxing and dancing are becoming lifestyle trends in the market and consumers are increasingly into `organic' foods," Osumi said. For more, go to www.PATA.org.


Author: Canadian Travel Press
Organization: Canadian Travel Press/Baxter Publishing
Contact: ctp@baxter.net