Mainland loss
is isle gain in Japan
honeymoon biz

Hawaii's popularity as a wedding
and honeymoon destination
is strong and growing

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By Russ Lynch
rlynch@starbulletin.com

Hawaii is still clearly the No. 1 destination for Japanese newlyweds who plan to have their honeymoon outside Japan.

Its lead is even greater when young couples decide to have the actual wedding ceremony outside Japan, according to the latest survey by Japan's biggest travel agency, JTB Corp.

Of all the 2,515 Japanese couples who booked for overseas honeymoons for this spring, 28.8 percent, or 734 couples, chose Hawaii, JTB said in its survey of honeymooners booking through the agency for honeymoons in the spring months of March, April and May.

That was a decline of 5.2 percentage points from the previous spring, but declines elsewhere were much greater in the cautious Japanese attitude toward overseas travel that followed Sept. 11.

The U.S. mainland, for example, which was the second-place destination last spring with almost 19 percent of the total overseas honeymoon business, dropped to a 6.6 percent share.

This year, Australia is in second place with a 19 percent market share and Europe is third with 16.3 percent.

The decline in the U.S. mainland and Hawaii was picked up mostly by Australia, the South Pacific Islands and Europe, JTB said.

Hawaii has long been popular for the wedding ceremony itself, since it is a popular tourist destination for Japa- nese anyway and is viewed as an easy place to reach for family and guests who can find plenty to do and many places to go after the wedding.

This spring, that continued with Hawaii getting 235 weddings through March, April and May, half of the 472 overseas weddings JTB booked.

That was way ahead of second-placed Guam/Saipan with 101 and Oceania (primarily Australia and New Zealand) with 84.

While the total number of overseas weddings was down from last year's 560, that was mostly because weddings have to be booked earlier than the honeymoon trips, JTB said.

And "since the end of February we are seeing a rapid recovery in the number of bookings being made for overseas wedding ceremonies to be held this autumn," JTB said.

JTB's honeymoon bookings for the fall had dropped to just over half of the year-earlier level, as many couples even went so far as to put off their weddings altogether because of the awful international atmosphere after the attacks on the United States.

"This spring, however, bookings have recovered to 95 percent of their levels for the same season last year," JTB said.