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Golden Week trips rise despite record fuel surcharges: Japan's holiday in three data sets

Japan's Golden Week holiday is busier than last year even as flying gets dearer. Jiji Press reported on April 30 that international bookings for the eight-day period were up 18.4% at ANA, to 210,871, and 3.3% at the JAL group, to 169,302. Domestic bookings rose 18.5% at ANA and 8.0% at JAL.

The catch is fuel. Jiji said JAL raised its fuel surcharge for North America and Europe flights by 93% to 56,000 yen, and ANA by 76% to the same level, for tickets issued in May, a month earlier than planned. Cathay Pacific more than doubled its Japan–Hong Kong and Japan–Taipei surcharge to 14,500 yen. The Singapore kerosene benchmark has more than doubled since the Middle East conflict began in late February.

"Rises in overall travel costs will continue to give a certain level of impact" — JTB Corp. official, via Jiji Press

Travel company JTB's forecast, published on April 10, expects 24.47 million travellers over April 25–May 7, up 1.9%. Overseas trips rise 8.5% to 572,000, at 329,000 yen per person, while domestic travellers plan to spend 46,000 yen each, 2.1% less than last year. Among people staying home, 34.6% said Golden Week travel costs too much. Travel Voice reported that bookings of tours and local experiences abroad on KKDAY Japan were up to 2.2 times last year's, led by South Korea, with the platform linking the rise to a last-minute rush after reports that surcharges would go up.

How each outlet framed it

• Jiji Press — airline bookings and the size of the surcharge jumps.
• JTB — a nationwide survey of who travels, where, and on what budget.
• Travel Voice — what travellers book once they land, and the rush ahead of higher fees.

What we don't know yet: Whether summer holds up. An industry source told Jiji: "There'll be no small impact in summer and after."