Golden Week may
regain bit of luster

Isle vacation bookings
are up slightly this year, Japan
Travel Bureau says

By Russ Lynch
Star-Bulletin

Japanese tourist travel to Hawaii during the annual Golden Week holiday period of late April and early May will be up slightly from last year, according to the Japan Travel Bureau.

But JTB said it had to lower its prices to get the business, since the Japanese have begun to avoid the heavy travel period when prices are higher than usual.

This year Hawaii -- still the No.1 overseas destination for Japanese for Golden Week -- will host an anticipated 63,000 Japanese travelers booked by JTB for the period April 25 through May 5. That's a 3.3 percent increase from JTB's 61,000 bookings for the equivalent period last year.

The demand is up despite the higher cost of the dollar vs. the yen because "package tour prices still look reasonable," said JTB, Japan's biggest travel agency.

JTB's six-day packages of air fare, airport transfers and double-occupancy rooms at the Hilton Hawaiian Village were down 10 percent or more this year.

The agency quoted yen prices for its Look JTB tours sold in Japan, showing the biggest savings for travelers leaving Japan April 30. That six-day tour, which includes a weekend stay, costs 172,000 yen per person, down 34,000 yen (or $262) from the 1997 package price of 206,000 yen.

John Votsis, Hilton Hotels Corp. regional sales manager, said Japanese business overall is down and he was pleased to hear JTB's positive note.

"That's very encouraging news, that anybody would show anything up for the Japanese market," Votsis said. He said there has been a lot of marketing effort by the hotel industry, such as adding extra services to room deals. He said airlines are probably making better deals with the Japanese tour operators too, with seat demand from Japan down because of the Asian economic turmoil.

Many Japanese are "buying down and buying short," he said, booking lower-priced packages and staying shorter terms.

For many years Golden Week was a peak time for Hawaii. Because it includes two weekends and three public holidays, many Japanese workers can get away for as much as 10 or 11 days and only miss three or four days of work.

Because of the growth of demand, however, airline seats and hotel rooms for the period filled up and prices rose accordingly. But starting two years ago the higher prices, coupled with higher vacation flexibility in Japan, led many Japanese to dodge the peak period and travel cheaper before and after it.