The latest data from Trip.com reveals an enormous booking spike and high search volumes to Japan as the destination ends travel restrictions.
Bookings to Japan from South Korea increased by a massive 194% on those made in August, followed by a 183% increase in bookings from the UK, 169% in bookings from Spain and 103% in bookings from Germany.
Trip.com has seen consistently high search figures to Japan across Europe, Asia-Pacific and the US since May this year, with marked spikes across key destinations in September 2022.
Singapore saw the most considerable increase in a month-on-month search to Japan in September, with a 520% increase. This is followed by a 463% increase in searches from Thailand, a 365% increase in searches from Australia, and a 359% increase in searches from South Korea. Even the country with the lowest spike, the Philippines, saw a 91% increase in searches.
Trip.com Japan’s general manager Hironori Katsuse said: “The twofold effects of easing entry restrictions and a weaker yen have led to a rapid expansion of inbound tourism to Japan. This is truly a situation of revenge travel.
“With a scheduled increase of international flights from October, Trip.com Japan anticipates a more robust recovery from 4Q2022 to 1Q2023.”
Trip.com held its first Mega Sale in Japan last month, featuring deals on luxury hotels across the country. This led to the featured hotels getting considerable increases in visitor numbers to their websites, with one hotel seeing an 8,270% increase in website views during the sale.
Trip.com data also showed a boom in luxury hotel bookings in Japan, with a 7% increase in five-star hotel bookings between 2H2021 and 1H2022.
From the positive booking and search data, Trip.com is optimistic that the demand for inbound travel will continue to rise and further boost the recovery of the global travel and tourism industry.
