Japanese people urged to travel abroad to help airlines, tourism industry

No one can afford the ticket prices.

Priceless!! And I urge major cooperations to stop gorging prices like it is the only thing they can do, and if necessary, take a hit as a sign of gratitude and loyalty to our expected custom.

To further incentivize international travel, JATA said it will gift 8,000 yen in electronic money by lottery to 3,210 people who acquire a 10-year passport and fly internationally between July 1 and Sept 30. Application starts on May 15.

Pathetic.

Price gouging, best for the broke people.

Japan will not recover, wages are not following inflation and weak yen makes it worse.

People keep saving, which is a wise move.

 urged people to take trips abroad in a bid to boost the airline and tourism industry

Where those people really live? Japan or else where?

Go To Travel coupon no longer exist

https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2022/08/19/national/tokyo-resume-travel-subsidy/

Inflation is still high

https://asia.nikkei.com/Economy/Inflation/Japan-s-consumer-inflation-off-41-year-high-but-stays-above-BOJ-goal

I urge Japanese airlines to stop gouging people in peak season, as most people can't afford their service

JATA said it will gift 8,000 yen in electronic money by lottery to 3,210 people who acquire a 10-year passport and fly internationally between July 1 and Sept 30.

providing there is an R in the month.... and they have a MyNumber card, no criminal record, and queue online for two days in order to avail themselves of the opportunity.....

First it was please buy more alcohol, now it's please buy more air tickets...

… as demand for international travel struggles to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Struggling or amassing great profits? 

Japan Airlines (JAL) net profit for the year to March 2023: ¥34.4 billion ($250 million) 

All Nippon Airways (ANA) net profit for the year to March 2023: ¥89.4 billion ($668 million)

They want people to spend their yen abroad? Keep it in the Japanese economy at this stage. Plus at this moment you would get the least return overseas due to the FX rate.

2019 round trip ticket home in August Y160,000 with ANA. This summer, same ticket Y350,000. Oh yeah, I'm rushing to pay that. Not!

give me some free money and a safe flight.

I will not spend my hard earn money over an urge when inflation is so high.

I think it's a bit out of touch with reality to suggest/urge Japanese people to go abroad when:

Wages are stagnating

The yen is currently weak right now

Workers often are pressured not to take personal time off

As a result of #3, they have to go when there national holidays, and you guess it: the same people who benefit from this "urging" are the ones gouging the prices, airlines and hotels in particular

I always advocate for people to travel abroad when/if they can. If they aren't going, there's a reason why and it usually has to do with time and money.

They tell them to do this 

1) just after golden week, about the only time people get time off

2) while the airlines engage in price gouging

Tone deaf are the Japan Tourism Agency.

Abolish or drastically shorten Japan's official national holiday periods - shogatsu, golden week, obon, silver week - and force employers to grant vacation time based on employees' individual requests.

The limited periods during the year when the vast majority of Japanese people are allowed to travel puts a huge damper on outbound demand. Kinda obvious, isn't it.

Plane ticket prices have doubled from last year, doubled!

It’s not only the workers, if you have kids you can never go anywhere except during school holidays when the prices are artificially inflated.

Let it be normal that families travel when they want to travel.

I'm happy to go abroad, please just pay for my flight ticket and give me Euro so I can spend there.

Or, you can increase salaries to match the inflation.

I just went on a trip to London, Paris, and Amsterdam. The Euro and British Pounds were almost double the yen in worth. I spent so much money on this trip and that is not even mentioning the costs of the flights from Japan to London for my wife and me. Keep the prices down during the holiday season. Increase salaries in Japan the same way other countries have increased their salaries for workers. Not only that, but Japan needs to open up places for tourists to visit. The world is advancing and Japan is slow to catch up now. I came back to Japan and most of the workers at the airport were senior citizens. We need to fix this population crisis soon.

@gogogoToday  

No one can afford the ticket prices.

Indeed. JAL, pictured here, is the most expensive. I think Peach has done a great job of reducing costs domestically. We could use more of that.

Even if I had the money, I am surely not such suicidal to fly into all those no-go zones with wars, multinational knife wielders, mass shooters, terrorists or illegal drug hells. And even if you still don’t agree to those arguments it’s at least much more carbon neutral and environmental friendly if I don’t follow the call.

Expensive. Lower the prices.

Why should we travel to other countries when we got so much to see here in our own country? Airlines just want us to waste money. We lack nothing here. Hygiene is good, healthy food, is peaceful, amusement parks, countless islands vacation spots and nice country sites. If i want to enjoy hot springs i go to Gunma prefecture,if i want to enjoy beaches i go to Okinawa and if i want to ski i go to Hokkaido. If i want to visit disney, i can just go to Tokyo disneyland. Why would any of us travel outside unless we have families abroad? I visited Europe once. Never again. Way too many pickpockets. They even took my luggage from the train.

Did people completely forget airplanes are one of the biggest emissions contributors to climate change too? I bet they feign ignorance on that issue.

"Flight numbers will not recover on visitors to Japan alone," Koichi Wada, the head of the Japan Tourism Agency, said during a press conference. "It is important that travel demand recovers in both directions."

Hiroyuki Takahashi, chairman of JATA, said, "We would like to pave the way toward a recovery in travelers through the summer holidays."

and?

you jokers gonna lower prices?

no.

you gonna stop ripping people off at “peak” times?

no.

You gonna offer buy one get one free tickets or let kids fly for free?

no.

you gonna strengthen the yen?

no.

you gonna give middle class working families, raises across the board?

no.

I guess nothing will be accomplished then?

yup

How can people travel when they can't even keep up with inflation!?? Ticket prices are too high and the low yen is NOT helping either.

Did people completely forget airplanes are one of the biggest emissions contributors to climate change too? I bet they feign ignorance on that issue.

You were doing just fine until you added this.

Okinawa is about as far as I can go with my $.

@shogun36 well said ! I wholeheartedly agree with that .

I urge the government to RAISE salaries and strengthen the yen if they want people to go abroad!

Oh and reduce the flight ticket cost!!

This is ridiculous. The government closed the country just like it was in Edo times. Then, they ask their minions to go abroad just like when Japanese emigrated to Brazil, California and The Great White North's western territories to manually labor and make other countries rich. Plus, airlines are back to gouging people on the false pretense of surging fuel prices and civil unrest in developing nations such as Russia and Ukraine.

Last time I visited the UK in 2019, a return flight from Japan was about 150,000 yen.

It's double that now. Ridiculous.

Haha, that's just pathetic. They think people have the money to travel anywhere after decades of stagnation? Best course of action for them would be to try and attract foreign visitors instead. Got an image to erase from the minds of the people from the last 3 years of closed borders policy.

For decades the LDP (J-government) discouraged people from foreign travel and spending their yen abroad, now they want the opposite. As a word to the wise in government and the travel industry, lower flight prices for starters if you want people to travel and, give people more time off from work (to enjoy life).

With the USD at 134, what a joke!

Maybe it would help if the BOJ stopped destroy the JPY on purpose with its inadequate monetary policy which in addition worsen inflation.

no reason to pay higher for lower service.

I urge airlines to reduce their prices so people can actually afford to travel.

By traveling "abroad" it means going to Hawaii.

LOWER YOUR PRICES!!!!!!

As a large family it costs a small fortune to visit our family overseas. We do make the rip, but we cant go back as often as we would like when the current prices are still 2-3 times what they were before COVID. When you pile on the weak yen, stagnant wages in Japan, and inflation overseas, who exactly is going to be going abroad?

Hilarious! How to travel abroad when they get so little time off work or are too scared to take their allotted time off work because god forbid you want to take a week off or more to do things non-work related!

Also, apparently fewer than 20% of Japanese people actually hold passports and many have no desire to step off the island. Tragic really.

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/travel/article/japan-never-traveler-culture-cmb/index.html&ved=2ahUKEwih0KLj_-v-AhXYEIgKHfMMAR4QFnoECBUQBQ&usg=AOvVaw2cxiW_g-t83-lM81GeruwX

By traveling "abroad" it means going to Hawaii.

Or Saipan if they're feeling "adventurous".

What?

Urging Japanese to travel more and encourage more tourists to Japan?

Is the the air on land in Japan not polluted enough?

And now we should pollute the air in the skies as well?

And is the climate on planet Earth is not hotting up enough?

And Japan must heat it up more?

Friends of mine are dying to go to L.A. to see Ohtani play. Direct flights by JAL cost close to 300,000yen but have a long waiting list. China Airlines tickets via Taipei are available but still costs 180,000yen. I am praying this is just an August thing because I am planning to go during the last week of October which is supposedly low peak season.

Japanese should spend their money at home,the US do need travelers,we have done without mostly for 3 years, going to strange place where you have no connection,you would get bored

What people should be doing is Boycotting the Airline and Hotel Industry for Price Gouging!!!

They should be happy that they have business again. Instead, they have raised their prices to ridiculous amounts as though they want to make up for all of the time during Covid that they had losses.

They are taking advantage of the fact that now Borders are opening that people want to get out. It doesn't mean that they can afford it. Even if they are going, it is not afforable and people suffer later from paying this money.

Both do the same during holidays, taking advantage of people.

I say Boycott them.

JAL was too expensive, people doesn't want luxury service, they just want traveling budget cheap!

If one is unable or unwilling to pay, use another provider or just don't fly. It's really that simple.

The airlines will have no trouble filling the seat. It's basic supply and demand in a capitalist system.

8000 off a ticket that is likely 300,000 yen is nothing. But par the course for businesses here. Unless your going to Korea is Taiwan, ticket prices are out of the question for the average spender.

Also a lottery system. I know Japan loves these dumb lottery systems but please, that’s not going to help either

Only retired folks can afford to travel and even then they are being leached off of their children and grandkids.

A suggestion for a related article:

"Japanese Government Urged to Tackle Inflation, Reduce Wealth Inequalities, and Boost Yen Value to Enable Residents of Japan to Once Again Travel Abroad."

Do the Japan Tourism Agency and the Japan Association of Travel Agents have any idea what international ticket prices are right now???

Who is going to help me then? What bollocks is this?

It's easy - you want the number of travelers to be like before the pandemics? Offer the pre-pandemic prices then, brainiacs...

I used to pay around 80k-90k for a roundtrip to Hungary. Flew there on Christmas as my last time home was in 2019. It cost me 220k. Ridiculous!

Why are Chinese airlines the cheapest?

Why are Japanese airlines the most expensive?

Rip off Japan?

I had a codeshare flight with JAL last week and could only marvel at how many non Japanese were on the flight

All this ‘urging’ won’t get anyone, anywhere, least not on a plane seat

By traveling "abroad" it means going to Hawaii.

That's Showa thinking. Hawaii is out of many people's price range now. It'll mostly be Korea and Taipei.

Presumably this lottery and "8000 yen off" are the idea of JTB, JAL etc. I bet its not a policy wonk in the government forcing them to do it that way. There'll be a government-decided budget and this is how the tourism industry has decided to spend it. If this is of little benefit or meaning to you, it certainly doesn't benefit me, it's their fault.

Air companies are doing well and are pretty happy.

What these agencies want is a piece of the pie! Most Japanese use travel agency to arrange their trip as a tour (tickets, logging plus bus tour) and are getting commission for that.

Shameless

I read somewhere only 24 percent of Japanese have passports and out of that 24 percent only 16 percent travel abroad. There are various reasons why many Japanese don't travel abroad and one of them is it is very expensive!

Ordinary Japanese are too poor to travel overseas.

Japan is now an affordable travel destination due to its low-wages and low-prices, not the source of tourists.

Plane ticket prices have doubled from last year, doubled!

I discovered that when I bought a plane ticket recently. It's incredible!

The yen has been devalued from ¥78/$1 to ¥137/$1

almost half. Last year it was almost ¥150/$1. I won’t travel this year. I cancelled trips to Thailand and America. Maybe, I won’t ever again. It used to be cheaper to go abroad. Now, it’s not.

Why are Chinese airlines the cheapest?

I can tell you've never been on a long-haul flight packed with mostly Chinese.

Super expensive flights.

Awful exchange rate.

But we should help the airlines.

Is it April first?

Our collective hearts bleed for these poor hard-up airline companies. NOT !!!

Our collective hearts bleed for these poor hard-up airline companies. NOT !!!

Indeed. I had to pay 50 GBP once for a suit bag! I paid in cash. 45 minutes later the flight got cancelled because of thunder! A refund for the plane ticket was offered. We had to cancel a hotel, which we got charged for. It took me 6 weeks of badgering and hounding the air company before I got my 50 quid back!

And, an international flight I booked for 11:00 departure has been cancelled and we were automatically put on the 9:00 am flight! If we want to change, we need to call them.

Absolute bandits, air companies!

A whole Y8,000? Wow. The incentives given out here are laughable sometimes. Look at the prices of international airline tickets from Japan. Crazy.

Airlines seek trying to recover 3 years of lost revenue in 3 months with these crazy prices. My biz class to USA was 1.1 million yen.

I expect that when things such as carbon credits creep their way into society, the carbon factor will propel prices even higher for carbon intensive travel.

There will be less people able to travel, unless incomes or someone's wealth can match. Much like it used to be in the 1970s and 1980s, air travel will be come less affordable for most people or familes as has been the case of cheaper international travel over the last 3 decades.

People will start to travel once overseas every 5 or 10 years instead of every year or 2 or 3 now.

This is what many people wanted and voted for though, so can't expect much different to come along.

Thailands a big draw right now. ;) Pun intended.

Yeah, help the airlines. Then they thank you by raising already high prices even higher, mismanage their affairs and run to the government for a bailout.

From Japan to Hawaii [ tax alone ] is ¥ 61,110 (JPY) So, are you sure you want to urge anyone to fly with the prices outrageously high?

Once upon a time in ancient China, there was a Chinese emperor saw many starving people. He had a dialogue with his minister:

Emperor: Why people were starving?

Minister: Because they couldn't afford to buy rice to eat.

Emperor: Then tell them to buy and eat minced beef!

Here is what exactly is going on with the Kishida cabinet.

First it was please buy more alcohol, now it's please buy more air tickets...

I guess that means its ok to get super durped on my next flight home!

But seriously, didn't the airlines get jet fuel subsidies and probably other perks from the J-tax payers during 'covid' ? There has got to be some pay back now that the 'pandemic' has officially ended. How about offering more frequent flyer points or cheaper flights to popular destinations. I couldn't even get a direct return trip to Vancouver from Tokyo for less than 270000 Yen in July. I've never had to pay more than 150000 in the past. So, I'm flying to LAX first, then YVR. Way better deal.

My biz class to USA was 1.1 million yen.

Oh poor you!

At this point, the jokes write themselves.

Yes, it should. as it does me, per my comments.

Yet that would be the fault of the greedy airlines taking advantage of people and trying to make back all their lost profits immediately by taking advantage of the situation.

not a negative reflection on or an attack point against the person flying or the business that purchased it, correct?

you wouldnt for example criticize anyone who purchased it- as they might have a legitimate need to have it, right?

You would actually focus any complaints/derision on the airlines who are daring to overcharge for it, knowing that some people have no choice but to pay it, correct?

You know Japanese people will do whatever they are "urged" or "suggested" to do.

Many comments said airlines should keep fares down during the holiday season.

Sorry people, you're not in touch. The basic principle of yield management is to increase fares when demand is high and decrease them when demand is low. No airline in their right mind will ever agree to decrease fares when demand is high.

The only way to reduce these fare peaks is to even out the demand for flights.

There is nothing you can do against the devaluation of the yen, but you indeed can:

1) Force companies to allow more annual leave

2) Fine companies whose staff do not take all annual leave. Monitor that annual leave is taken properly, not only on paper. (Companies should also make arrangements so that staff not on holiday is not overwhelmed)

3) Differentiate school holiday periods, so that not all families are on holiday at the same time.

4) Allow the possibility to work during national holidays and take days off in lieu at a later stage.

5) Proactively incentivise people to take their annual leave in the off-season.

It really takes someone who knows the dynamics of the travel industry to tackle these issues.

Paying such a price just encourages airlines to keep gouging.

not everyone can just stop traveling. the airlines know this.

I’m not angry, but you sing your friend seemed to be just because I had the “audacity” to simply quote a biz class gouging price to go with the economy gouging prices others mentioned.

shall I dare tell you how much the gouging price was for the first class to USA? Nah you can look it up.

Airlines seek trying to recover 3 years of lost revenue in 3 months with these crazy prices. My biz class to USA was 1.1 million yen.

Don’t know how much experience you have traveling biz, but I haven’t flown economy once in the past 5 years and 1.1 million for biz is not expensive, but average, especially for flex tickets.

I’ve paid more than double that in the past for a RT from the US

sadly prices have gone up for the average folk and the families, not for those who buy biz tickets. I’d be ok paying more yet knowing some others could travel home to their families.

Imagine the CEO of an airline (or any private for profit organization in any industry for that matter) saying, “I know there is a huge amount of pent up demand, far beyond what can be supplied in the short term. I know we have a feduciary responsibility to our stockholders (who after all, do own the company) to maximize their investment. And we need to repay the loans our lenders gave us to maintain cash flow during the pandemic. We need capital to finance new aircraft . And then there’s our employees who stuck it out with us.

But by golly, I am going to leave that this ephemeral demand and all the revenues that accompany it on the table so that Joe average can have a service at their, and not the market’s, preferred price regardless of input costs or fixed costs!”

Just imagine how long that CEO would be employed (not long) and the quality (lack thereof) of the good or service that organization provided.

Have any of you ever actually taken an economics class?

I could afford to take my family to Europe even with the current prices, but I just refuse to do so. I won’t pay these rip-off prices.

I hope we’ll start to see prices normalize over the next year or two. Last year airlines opened flights but the airport ground staff couldn’t handle it as most of them had been laid off during the pandemic. This year airlines canceled thousands of flights and slowed down bringing routes back online after the pandemic to avoid the same problems. That plus fuel prices, Russian airspace’s closure etc. is causing current crazy prices. Next year airlines should feel more confident to increase capacity hopefully bringing down ticket prices.