News GW 2025 expected to see less travel

According to a JTB survey, more people in Japan intend to remain at home during this year's "Golden Week" holiday period than last year, citing rising costs and a preference to avoid crowds.

The survey polled 10,000 individuals, revealing that only 20.9% said they would travel or were likely to do so between 25 April and 7 May — a drop of 5.6 percentage points from the previous year. The most frequently cited reason for staying home, with respondents allowed to choose more than one answer, was the expected congestion, mentioned by 45.9% — a slight decline of 1.3 points compared to 2024. Economic concerns also figured prominently, with 34.6% noting high travel expenses and 25.9% stating a lack of room in the household budget. These figures represent increases of 0.9 and 1.9 points from the previous year.

Looking at the results by age and gender, the survey found the desire to travel had waned across all generations compared to the previous year. The highest rate was among men aged 29 or younger, at 33.9%. This was 6.6 points lower than last year's figure. Among women, the rate of those who wanted to travel was highest among those in the same age group, at 31.5%. Similarly, this figure was down 8.2 points compared to last year. In a multiple-choice question about their current lives, 25.7% of respondents said they have no leeway in their household finances -- up 1.1 points compared to the previous year. A total of 18.1% said they are "reducing spending on hobbies, travel and the like," up 1.5 points.

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We also look forward to a peaceful and relaxing GW, at home.

NHK news were busy anticipating 45 km tailbacks on some roads during Golden Week this morning, but I suspect they just reproduce the previous year's predictions and change the dates accordingly. Nobody would notice.

This year, I'm planning to take a paid day off on April 29th, giving me two sets of four-day holidays during Golden Week — one in the first half and one in the second. If possible, I'd like to go touring and camping in Kyushu. Since the cherry blossoms bloomed late this year, I think they'll be in full bloom in Tohoku and Hokkaido during Golden Week. However, I've given up on going there, since it takes two days to reach Hokkaido from Kyushu by connecting ferries.

We haven't gone anywhere for golden week for almost forever--just not worth the hassle. Even when our kids were small instead of going then, we'd try to do things a weekend or two later, when places (and roads) were comparatively empty.

Not sure about campsites, but when I armchair browse, prices for lodging are most definitely up.