Thai AirAsia, an affiliate of AirAsia’s Malaysian parent Capital A, began flying between Bangkok and Fukuoka on Oct 12, after Japan lifted nearly all of its Covid-19 travel curbs.
“We are excited to start the service before demand starts to jump toward the end of the year,” Thai AirAsia CEO Santisuk Klongchaiya said.
The first flight to Fukuoka was 95% full. Klongchaiya said reservations were on the rise ahead of the holiday season, and the carrier will add a fourth flight a week starting Sunday.
Flag carrier Thai Airways International will resume daily flights to and from Fukuoka on Sunday and Sapporo on Dec 2, both coming after a hiatus that lasted more than two and a half years.
About 1.32 million visited Japan from Thailand in 2019, more than from any other country in Southeast Asia. Many Thai travellers now want to explore new destinations beyond Tokyo and Osaka.
Singapore Airlines will launch a new flight to Haneda Airport on Sunday – its fourth daily flight to the Tokyo area. Budget unit Scoot will also expand direct service to Japan, including a second daily flight to Osaka and a third weekly flight to Fukuoka.
People are eager to visit countries they have been unable to over the past few years, Singapore Airlines senior vice president Jo-Ann Tan said.
The carrier logged its first net profit in two quarters in April-June thanks to increased traffic. However, its performance in East Asia had remained sluggish, given entry curbs in China and Japan.
Interest is growing in the Philippines as well.
“We have seen a surge of inquiries,” said Stefanie Alapag, assistant general manager for corporate travel at Rajah Travel, adding that “50% of our Asian inquiries right now are really for Japan.”
A four-night trip to Tokyo is currently priced at around US$2,000 – not including airfare. Costs have increased because of higher hotel prices, she said.
Asia-Pacific airlines will suffer an US$8.9 billion net loss in 2022, more than those in any other region, according to projections from the International Air Transport Association in June.
Thai Airways is cutting staff and fixed costs after filing for bankruptcy protection, while Garuda Indonesia is restructuring. With travel to China slow to recover, many carriers see increased service to Japan as a way to lift earnings.
Japan received 1.02 million visitors in the first nine months of 2022, according to preliminary data from the Japan National Tourism Organization.
Southeast Asia and India accounted for 37% of travellers, followed by 26% from East Asia and 18% from the US, Europe, Australia, and the Middle East.
It has since become much easier for tourists to visit Japan, with the country scrapping a requirement to book packaged tours and resuming visa-free travel. A weak yen is providing tailwinds as well.
One Singaporean tourist, who was visiting Japan for the first time in three years, said current exchange rates made it more fun to eat and shop through Tokyo.
Thai travel agency TTN Corporate Group received about 70 bookings for trips leaving October and about 100 for trips leaving November after Japan lifted the packaged tour requirement, a company representative said.
The rush is fuelled in part by favourable exchange rates – around 3.9 yen to the baht, compared with around 3.4 yen at the end of 2021.
Incomes in Southeast Asia have remained strong despite the pandemic. Gross domestic product per capita in the Philippines and Vietnam has remained above US$3,000, a threshold for increased spending by the middle class, meaning many there can afford to travel once restrictions are lifted.
Still, concerns remain over Japan’s ability to welcome back tourists. In a survey by Teikoku Databank this month, some companies said they could not operate at 100% capacity due to staffing shortages.
“We’re sending corporate employees with customer service experience to hotels for a few hours at a time to help out,” Hotel Okura Tokyo said. The company expects occupancy to double on the year in November and December.
“Some of our facilities are seeing occupancy rates drop,” a representative at a leading business hotel chain said, blaming a staff shortage.