MORE Japanese tourists may prefer the CNMI as their destination this summer due to its close proximity to their country.
Japanese now plan for “closer, shorter and cheaper trips” as they have become “wary of terrorism and weary of economic hard times,” according to industry reports.
“It’s true that tourists now prefer short trips and Saipan may benefit from this,” said Arai Hikaru, operation division officer of Jalpak International, an affiliate of Japan Airlines.
But she said Japanese tourists also give big consideration to “cheaper trips.”
“Saipan is not really ‘a cheaper trip.’ Tourists do compare costs, say with, Korea or Bali,” she said.
She said Japanese tourists get cheaper packages for Korea and Bali.
In general, the Japanese tourists’ new travel preference is expected to affect the international tourism industry— from Hawaii to Paris.Japanese are known as one of “the world’s globe-trotting” people.
Latest figures showed that the number of Japanese booking foreign trips through Japan’s top 50 travel agencies dropped by 6 percent in May from the same month last year to 350,651 people.
