Survey in Japan Predicts Sluggish Spending this Summer Holiday

The results of a summer-related survey conducted by Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Company showed average anticipated spending of ¥65,157 during the 2020 summer vacation in Japan. This is even lower than the average amount in 2019, when there was a trend toward less summer spending as a reaction against the extended 10-day Golden Week holiday in spring to mark the beginning of the new Reiwa era. The average for 2020 is the lowest since the survey began in 2006. Anticipated summer spending among women averaged ¥63,275, which was on par with last year, while likely spending among men decreased by ¥5,800 to ¥67,039.

Among those who planned to spend less this summer, 63.0% said that this was because there was not much opportunity to do so, as the COVID-19 crisis has made it necessary to refrain from taking excursions. The second most common reason cited, at 32.9%, was the need to save money because of uncertainty over the future.

Among the survey respondents, 70.2% said that their summer vacation plans this year have been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, of whom 48.3% said that they have been unable to decide on any plan as a result. There is a lack of clarity about what will happen next this year, even one or two months down the road.

Among those who said that COVID-19 has had no impact on their summer vacation plans this year, around 60% said that they just planned to relax at home during the break. Meanwhile, there was a year-on-year decrease for planned excursions this year, including hometown trips (down 6.1 percentage points), domestic trips in general (down 6.3 percentage points) and overseas trips (down 3.1 percentage points).

When asked to sum up summer 2020 in one kanji, popular choices included characters with the meaning “endure” (耐, 忍) and “quiet” (静, 寂). Also in the top 10 were kanji for “home” (家), “not yet” (未), “near” (近), “moderation” (節), “free time” (暇), and “not” or “nothing” (無).

(Translated from Japanese. Banner photo: © Pixta.)