The Japanese used to be famous for their enthusiasm for overseas travel, but now they spend more time in their hometown.

A weaker yen, high air ticket prices and sluggish wage growth have made outbound travel much lower than it was before the epidemic. According to the Japan National Tourism Administration (Japan National Tourism Organization), only 1.22 million people traveled abroad in March, down 36% from the same period in 2019.Qanbadragon.8%. Meanwhile, a record number of tourists visited the island last month.

This week, as Japan began its annual national holiday, Golden week, local tourists chose Kochi prefecture in the south, Atami near Tokyo, Okinawa and Hokkaido.QanbadragonHe's a hot spot. In response, Japan Airlines (Japan Airlines Co., jal) and all Nippon Airways Holdings (ANA Holdings Inc., ANA) allocated a large portion of their seats to inbound passengers and profitable areas with stronger demand. According to government data, the recovery in outbound tourism will not happen until next year at the earliest.

"QanbadragonIt may take me a while to travel abroad again; now the price is too high-food and everything, "said Tomoyo Shimoya, 39. Earlier this month, she celebrated her birthday at the Hatoya Hotel Hotel because it was cheaper. Spend the night at this hotel a few hours' drive from Tokyo, including breakfast and dinner, at a per capita cost of about 1.Qanbadragon.50,000 yen ($98). By comparison, hotel rooms in Hawaii average $375 per night.

During Japan's postwar economic boom, Hatoya was a popular seaside resort. In the shadow of luxury resorts at home and abroad, it is now enjoying a rebound.

'it 's a good thing to keep our old image, 'said Shigeru Haraguchi, president of Fuji Commercial Co., Fuji Shoji Co. Fuji Commercial Co., Ltd. operates "Yukiya" and its sister property, "Sun Yuyuya". In 1945, his grandfather bought the property from a magician who performed tricks with pigeons. Pigeons are called "heavenly doves" in Japanese. " We will continue to provide food and services at the right price and quality. "

Haraguchi expects occupancy to reach 80 per cent during the upcoming Golden week holiday. The architectural style of the Hatoyama Hotel has remained basically the same since it was built in the 1970s, so it has become a popular destination for those seeking a retro atmosphere on Instagram, with banquet halls, dinner shows and hot springs with aquariums.

Interest in local destinations has translated into domestic spending by Japanese tourists, which has returned to pre-pandemic levels, reaching 21.9 trillion yen by 2023, according to government data. Coupled with strong inbound demand, a record 3.1 million tourists visited Japan in March, pushing hotel prices to levels not seen in 30 years.

The average daily house price last month was about 20986 yen, the highest since August 1997 and nearly 20 per cent higher than in the same period last year, according to CoStar Group.

Analyst Eric Zhu said that while all Nippon Airways (ANA) and Japan Airlines (Japan Airlines) reported solid results in the third quarter, they faced the risk of losing international market share. Depressed outbound travel "may limit the profit potential of all Nippon Airways and JAL this year, as the two companies need to fight an uphill battle with foreign airlines in terms of inbound tourists," he said.

During the Golden week, all Nippon Airways increased the number of seats on domestic routes, with the occupancy rate up 3.8 percentage points from the same period last year. International flights fell 0.9 percent, according to bookings from Japan's largest airline.

The lack of motivation for outbound travel is also reflected in the number of Japanese passport holders. As of December, only 21.5 million people held passports, or 17 per cent of the Japanese population, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Ministry of Foreign Affairs).

Masahiko Inada, president of the Japan Association of Travel agents (Japan Association of travel Agents), said the government needed to urge people to obtain passports to encourage travel abroad. Some people have called for lower fees, and airlines have even offered subsidies.

Inada said that outbound tourism will eventually resume and young tourists will visit nearby countries during the recent spring break. Travel agencies "have received bookings for the fall and the end of the year," he said. "I hope this trend will continue."

Mitsuko Tottori, chief executive of Japan Airlines, said last week that she was worried that young people would take fewer risks outside Japan because of the weaker yen. Koji Shibata, chief executive of Ana, expressed similar concerns.

"We often talk about how the yen at 130 to the dollar would be a good thing," Bird said in a group interview last week, before the yen fell to a 34-year low of 156 against the dollar. "it's a big problem."