Japanese holiday
travel risingThe number of people going abroad
during Golden Week will double, JTB says
Japanese domestic and international travel demand over the country's "Golden Week" holiday in April and May has risen, as concern eases over last year's SARS epidemic and people get more days off, JTB Corp. said.
The number of people going abroad will more than double from a year earlier to 485,000 in the period between April 24 and May 9, almost matching the 490,000 recorded two years ago, Japan's largest travel agent said, citing its own survey. Including domestic travelers, the figure will rise 3.6 percent to 21.7 million.
More Japanese plan to travel during Golden Week this year to take advantage of four national holidays encompassing a weekend, compared with only two holidays last year. That's good news for Japan Airlines System Corp. and All Nippon Airways Co., which were hurt in 2003 by a drop in demand caused by the SARS virus.