Japan is preparing for its eventful holiday season

Published on : Saturday, April 30, 2022

Japan is gearing up for its eventful holiday season since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic and the country’s government is relaxing itspandemic measures.However, according to experts, an increase in infections can probably keep consumer spending below pre-pandemic levels.

Bookings for hotels, airlines and bullet train operators during the Golden Week, which starts on April 29 and runs through early May, have witnessed strong comebackcompared to the same period last year.

Flight bookings have also gone upthis year, although numbers are still far below 2019 levels.

Japan Airlines said that domestic flight bookings have doubled from last year to 801,340, with international bookings increasing 4.2 times to 69,170. Rival ANA Holdings said that domestic flight bookings have gone up 1.4 times from 2021 to 783,788, while international bookings soared 5.6 times to 64,896.

West Japan Railway, operating bullet trains in that part of the country, said that on April 14, reservations for trips between April 28 and May 11 have more than doubled from last year. Osaka is a popular destination this year, with bookings more than quadrupling compared to a year before.

The Japanese government has dismissed COVID-19 prevention measures across the country by March 21, and restaurants and other businesses have once again started their normal operations.

To quote DaishiroYamagiwa, the minister in charge of COVID-19 policy,“I hope that everyone will be able to spend Golden Week normally. Currently, we have not imposed any restrictions, based on our assessment of the infection situation.”

Ming Chen, the founder and CEO of online travel startup KK Day, said that bookings for April and May have doubled from March, due to the pent-up demand during the Golden Week.