More Golden Week Travelers in Japan in 2026, But Less Spending Expected

Frugality over Luxury

In 2026, Japan’s annual Golden Week holiday is centered on a five-day period from May 2 to 6 (Saturday to Wednesday).

The travel agency JTB Corporation conducted a survey from March 6 to 11, targeting 10,000 people, to find out their plans for the 13 days from April 25 to May 7. According to the results, 23.4% of the respondents said they would either definitely or probably travel during that period, which is an increase of 2.5 percentage points over the previous year.

Based on the number of respondents who said they would either definitely or probably travel (2,060 people in total), the estimated number of domestic travelers is projected to reach 23.9 million this year, up 1.7% year on year. This level is nearly comparable to 2019, just prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, when the figure was 24.0 million. However, average per-capita spending on domestic travel (including transportation and accommodation) is expected to decline by 2.1% year-on-year to ¥46,000, for the first decrease since 2020.

When asked about how they plan to spend money on travel (multiple answers allowed), the proportion of respondents saying that they would increase the number of travel days or travel to a more remote destination both declined compared to last year. With regard to trip length, the proportion of those going on a trip for one night and two days rose 6.4 percentage points year-on-year, to 39.9%, while trips for three nights and four days fell by 3.6 points to 16.2%. In addition, the share of respondents who planned to spend money on a lavish trip was lower than those who intended to travel more modestly, reversing the tendency last year for luxury travel to be more prevalent.

A representative from JTB observed that “uncertainty about the economic outlook, including rising crude oil prices from the situation in Iran, may also be having an impact” when it comes to the leveling off in travel spending that has occurred despite the continued rise in wages.

Meanwhile, the number of Japanese traveling overseas is expected to increase by 8.5% over the previous year, to 572,000, and average travel spending is projected to rise by 2.2% to ¥329,000. Amid growing international tensions and rising airfares, the representative noted that “more people seem to be thinking they should travel now, while they still can.” The most popular destinations were South Korea, Taiwan, and China, in that order, with East Asia accounting for about 60% of all trips.

Data Sources

• Travel trends for Golden Week in 2026 (Japanese) from JTB

(Translated from Japanese. Banner photo © PhotoAC.)