Japanese Head to Cebu & Manila

RisingSunofNihon ^ | June 8, 2006 | Dr. Bill Belew

[G. Stolyarov II]

The Japanese have to do something with their money - $108,000 per family unit in savings.

One thing they do is travel. The hottest travel destination is Hawaii. They'd actually like to buy HI but that would only leave 49 stars on the flag unless America were to let Puerto Rico in...but then, I am off topic.

Guam is next on the list...then China.

But moving up quickly is the PI - Cebu and Manila.

Travel bookings from one city, Nagoya, are up 20% and charter flights are already sold out for the rest of the year! And it's only June.

The Bacolod Golf club in Manila offers caddy training for Filipinos on how to handle Japanese golf tourists - talk about catering to the customer.

In Tokyo, the Kinki Nippon Tourist agency (that is really its name) has picked Bohol, PI, as an ecotourism destination.

Representatives of the Japan Gateball (kind of like crochet for seniors, only they take it very seriously...very very seriously. My ex-mother-in-law wouldn't even consider trying it because she didn't want to get yelled at when she missed a shot.) Union and World Gateball Union will visit the PI to see if they can find a host.

In other words - Japan - the young and the old have money and they want to spend it by going somewhere - somewhere close, and the PI is happy to accomodate.

What do you have to offer the Japanese?

[G. Stolyarov II]

The growing trend of Japanese tourism might be a sign of Japanese economic recovery; people are more willing to spend money on leisure now than they would have been had they continued to fall on hard times. This rise in travel will also fuel the economies of the Japanese tourists' destinations. See Dr. Belew’s blog at RisingSunofNihon