Inflation and hotel prices curtail Japanese 'Golden Week' travels

Japan's annual “Golden Week" holiday period gets into full swing Saturday, but inflation and hotel prices sent soaring by record inbound tourism have left domestic travellers less eager to pack their bags.

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Traditionally, Golden Week -- which includes three consecutive public holidays-- gives Japanese workers one of their longest breaks in the year, with many taking the opportunity to see other parts of Japan or to travel abroad.

But this year consumers in the world’s fourth-largest economy are feeling the pain of rising prices for everything from cabbage and rice to electricity bills.

The Japanese yen has lost around a third of its value since 2022, one factor behind the record number of foreign tourists also lured by the country’s numerous attractions from Mount Fuji’s majestic slopes to shrines and sushi bars.

The inflow of tourists has sent demand for hotel bookings spiralling upward, with the room rate in Japan’s five major cities around 16 percent more expensive at the onset of this year’s Golden Week than last year, according to a survey from the business daily Nikkei.

All this has translated into a tepid desire among Japanese residents to travel for this year’s Golden Week, surveys have shown. The latter part of the holiday period began Saturday and lasts until Tuesday.

“The biggest reason seems to be the inflation that has curtailed their willingness to spend lavishly”, Atsushi Tanaka, a tourism studies professor at Yamanashi University, told AFP.