*JATA survey: package tour bookings for Asia and China are largely down

Japan Association of Travel Agents (JATA) released on October 19 results of the survey on package tour bookings for next three months from October to December this year and package tour results for the past three months from July to September this year. The survey, which was carried out for five major travel agents of JTB, Kinki Nippon Tourist, Nippon Travel Agency, JAL PAK and Hankyu Express International, finds that bookings for North America are growing, while those for China and Asia are severely decreasing mainly because of the external negative factors, such as a series of the anti-Japan demonstrations or the Bali bombing, and of more last-moment-bookings. The same trend was also found in the results for the past three months.

This Week Headline
*JATA survey: package tour bookings for Asia and China are largely down
+Package demand for Hawaii has been down since September
*WA Tourism Minister appeals "healing" tourism to the SIT market of Japan
+Large expectation to Australia-Japan Year of Exchange
*ENIT aims to exploit local demands and to establish an information network
*ANA ties up with Japan Post to launch a new cargo airline
*Bali bombing forces JAL to shrink flights for Indonesia
*Varig will leave Japan next January
*JFAIU proposes capacity expansion at airports in the Tokyo Metropolitan
*JAL air transport result for August 2005
*Kansai international passengers leveled off in September
*NAA starts demonstrating more precise explosives inspection