JAL sees surge in Chinese visitors to Japan on October holiday break

Despite tourism recovery, retailers do not expect return to explosive spending

JAL sees reservations on China routes bouncing back to 70% of pre-COVID level (Photo by Yo Inoue)

MAI KITAGAWA, Nikkei staff writer

October 3, 2024 01:13 JST

TOKYO -- Japan Airlines bookings from China during the country's weeklong National Day holiday have recovered to the highest volume since the start of the pandemic.

For the weeklong break to celebrate China's National Day, which began Tuesday, bookings on JAL's Chinese routes to Japan jumped 23% from a year earlier to roughly 15,800 seats, according to the carrier. Reservations have risen to more than 70% of the volume seen during the same period in 2019.