Golden Week spending down

Japanese consumers are heading into Golden Week with smaller budgets, even as holiday travel inches back toward pre-pandemic scale. (jiji.com) Research company Intage said the average budget for the holiday period is ¥27,660, down 5.4% from a year earlier and the lowest since 2023. The online survey drew 5,000 responses from people ages 15 to 79 across Japan in late March. (jiji.com) The same survey found 40% of respondents had no holiday plans. Intage also said 19.6% expected international tensions to make them trim spending or shorten trips, while 2.4% said they would switch from overseas travel to domestic trips. (jiji.com) A separate JTB forecast points to heavier movement but leaner wallets. The travel company expects total Golden Week travelers to rise 1.9% to 24.5 million, including 23.9 million domestic travelers, while average domestic spending per person slips 2.1% to ¥46,000. (travelvoice.jp) That would be the first decline in per-person domestic Golden Week spending in six years, according to JTB’s forecast as reported by The Japan News. Overseas travel is moving the other way: JTB expects outbound travelers to jump 8.5% to 572,000. (japannews.yomiuri.co.jp) Golden Week remains one of Japan’s busiest travel stretches because it bundles several national holidays into one break. In 2026, the Intage survey defined the period as running from Saturday through May 6. (jiji.com) Crowds are still expected at marquee events in regional destinations. In Nagano Prefecture, the Saku Balloon Festival is scheduled for May 3 to May 5, with official practice on May 2, at the Chikuma River Sports Exchange Square in Saku City. (jasumo.com) Nagano’s tourism guides describe the Saku event as one of the prefecture’s biggest Golden Week draws, and festival listings say about 40 balloons typically take part. The event has become a regular holiday fixture even as households show more caution about what they spend. (go-nagano.net) (o-matsuri.jp) Japan’s wider tourism backdrop is stronger than it was during the pandemic years. JTB Tourism Research, citing Japan National Tourism Organization data, said foreign arrivals reached 3,466,700 in February 2026, up 6.4% from a year earlier. (tourism.jp) The pattern for this Golden Week is more people on the move, but tighter control over each yen. The holiday rush is back; the free-spending version of it is not. (travelvoice.jp)