By Gerardo R. Partido
Variety News Staff

THIS Golden Week is not expected to be as “golden” for Guam as in previous years.
Golden Week is that period of consecutive holidays in Japan that starts during the end of April and the start of May. This period is considered the busiest time for Japanese overseas travel and Guam has always had a substantial share of this market.
But this year’s Golden Week, which runs from April 29 to May 6, is not expected to be as good as last year’s.
According to the Guam Visitors Bureau, bookings have been slow for this year’s Golden Week due to higher tour prices and a shorter Golden Week holiday period.
In contrast, last year’s Golden Week saw Guam and Saipan bookings already up by 180 percent as of March 15.
Last year, Guam was a strong second in the Golden Week sweepstakes, trailing only Hawaii. Following Guam was Bangkok and Seoul.
Japan Travel Bureau, the biggest travel agency in Japan, is forecasting an overall 0.74 percent cut in total Golden Week travel this year, including a 10 percent reduction in travel to Guam and the CNMI.
According to JTB, only an estimated 548,000 people are expected to go abroad during the Golden Week holiday season, down 0.4 percent from the previous year.
JTB pointed out that this year’s string of public holidays is not conducive to taking a long trip because the 2007 Golden Week includes two workdays, on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Worsening things for Guam and the CNMI, JTB said the number of Japanese travelers to Asian destinations is likely to increase 4.4 percent to 308,000 between April 25 and May 5, as the distribution of holidays will hardly affect the three- to four-day tours that are popular for the shorter distances.
China, in particular, has become a favorite this Golden Week as a selection of tours to a number of cities in China has already been offered for the holiday.
Several factors are behind the expected boom in Japanese travel to China, including interest sparked by the 2008 Olympic Games and the warming up of the bilateral ties between Tokyo and Beijing.
During the past two years, GVB said anti-Japan demonstrations in China over the war crimes issue have affected Japanese overseas travel to that country.
But this year marks the 35th anniversary of the normalization of diplomatic relations between Japan and China and JTB, along with other Japanese travel agencies, has stepped up selling China tours.
A five-day tour to Beijing, Xi’an and Shanghai offered by JTB includes sightseeing at Tiananmen Square, the Forbidden City and the Great Wall in Beijing, as well as Mausoleum of the first Qin Emperor in Xi’an.
A seven-day tour by JTB also includes scenic cities Guilin and Yangshuo in the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region in south China, along with Beijing, Xi’an and Shanghai. The tour also features local specialty meals as a selling point.
H.I.S. Co. is targeting China’s Hainan Island as a relax tour destination for couples of all ages. To shorten flight time, the agency has chartered direct flights from Narita airport to Hainan. Two five-day tours depart April 28 and May 2, respectively, each limited to 196 travelers.
The budget tour agency also said it would introduce more Hainan tours if it can obtain charter flight slots, according to the Nikkei weekly newspaper, one of Japan’s most influential business publications.
Japanese travel analysts said China is now able to provide satisfactory tourism services thanks to the country’s rapid economic development.
Competition for a bigger share of the unexplored market is likely to heat up ahead of the Beijing Olympics in August 2008.
According to statistics, the number of Japanese visitors to China reached 3.75 million in 2006, a sharp rise from 1.3 million in 1995.