Tourist Industry Looks to Boomers to Boost Revenue
As we've noted before, the baby boom generation is defined far differently in Japan than it is in the US. In America, it's those born between 1946 and 1964, a wide span that includes people about to retire as well as those having their first children. In Japan, the baby boom cohort spans a narrow three years, some 6.8 million Japanese born between 1947 to 1949. Although the shorter time-span makes the effect of Japan's baby boomers less powerful and pervasive, the more concentrated birth bulge makes their impact more certain. Moreover, retirement in Japan is more likely to become at a fixed age, ie, 60, making predictions even firmer.

In this latest piece of news, the Japan Travel Bureau now anticipates that overseas Japanese travelers will reach 17.9 million in 2007, up 1.4% from the year before. JTB says that overseas travel by younger people is stagnant, but increased trips from the retiring boomer generation to China and Europe will more than compensate for the slack. Together with strong business demand to Asia, particularly China, JTB predicts about a 2% increase in yen volume for overseas travel by Japanese.