It’s getting more challenging for many people living in Japan to make foreign travel part of their adventure and Recreation very often now. This is not because people in Japan have become disinterested with going on vacations; however, costs have risen significantly each year since they first began travelling internationally, in addition to the exchange rate (yen vs. other currency), which has fallen dramatically since 2019.
Regarding the relationship between international visitors to Japan vs. International travel leaving Japan, we can see a huge contradiction. Prior to COVID19, 2019 allowed a total of fully booked reservations from Japan outside of Japan to go worldwide (20+ million trips in 2019) and at much more reasonable prices. Since COVID19 pandemic those numbers have not returned completely.
The recovery process has been slow and gradual so far, although the bill has not dropped fully, but looks like will soon. Based on 2025 stats, we see approximately 14.7 million outbound trip reservations were booked – ranking higher than past years but don’t come anywhere near the totals of 2019.
Currency factors play their part as well; with the yen already lower than it has been compared to other currencies before, for many things they would typically purchase outside Japan (hotels, food, etc.), become more expensive than they were before. Thus, what were previously inexpensive items now require a significant financial investment to purchase.
For the most familiar expatriate in Japan, International discount airfares at the present are not good starting to let me know that if I plan to spend time outside of Japan, I need to find alternative methods of funding this dream.
Current global fuel prices continue to rise, thereby causing airlines to increase the price of tickets in order to maintain profitability. This increasing price of long-haul fares will be an additional delay or cancellation of international travel for some travelers due to both rising fuel costs combined with the effect of the foreign exchange rate on ticket costs.
While a decrease in international travel is occurring among older age groups, there is still significant international travel activity among younger travelers (particularly women in their 20s) to destinations outside of Japan. A significant decrease in international departures is occurring in many regions of Japan compared to increasingly smaller decreases in Tokyo.
So far this year there is evidence of an early momentum in the form of slight increases in international travel activity through the first quarter of this year, compared to the same period in the prior year. However, if airline ticket prices continue to rise, there is a danger of international travel activity declining thereafter.
Airlines operate in an incredibly complex environment. Given the nature of air travel today — where airlines depend upon a consistent supply of international travelers to operate their networks — this is an area where too much decrease in demand could force an airline to cut service in the future.
The Japanese government is endeavouring to spur travel again by providing ‘marginal’ incentives to Japanese travellers. One of these initiatives is to reduce passport fees (which will be reduced in mid-2026) in an attempt to create more opportunities for Japanese citizens to travel internationally.
Despite these initiatives, the larger environment continues to be influenced by factors beyond airlines and travelers — global oil prices, currency exchange rates and general economic stability.
Travelling for Japanese citizens will not be affected by a decrease in interest in travelling internationally, but rather by timing, price and value when they eventually decide to travel again.
