Japanese overseas travel shows signs of recovery

Bloomberg News Service

TOKYO — Japanese overseas tour bookings and rail traffic to Tokyo's main international airport at Narita may indicate overseas travel demand is set to recover from its slump following September's terrorist attacks.

Kinki Nippon Tourist Co., Japan's No. 2 travel agent, said reservations for the "Golden Week" holiday in May have risen by half over last year since the company started taking reservations in mid-January.

East Japan Railway Co., Japan's biggest rail operator, said passenger numbers on the main express train to Narita in January showed a lower year-on-year fall compared with December.

Airline passenger numbers "are still down compared to last year, but there's going to be a steady improvement in demand through to July or August," said Credit Suisse First Boston analyst Osuke Itazaki.

Kinki Nippon expects overall January figures will show a 20 percent fall in demand for overseas package tours, compared with a 35 percent fall in December.

The number of people traveling on package tours with Nippon Travel probably fell 30 percent in January from a year earlier, compared with December's 35 percent fall, said company spokesman Hitoshi Sato.

JTB Corp., Japan's biggest travel agency, said package tour reservations in January fell 21 percent on year compared with a 34 percent fall in December, said spokesman Hiroshi Ueno.