A nationwide online survey of 1,000 adult men and women, conducted by Macromill, Inc. just prior to the Golden Week holidays in April and May, asked participants about their plans for the 2015 summer holidays. The survey was designed by the Nikkei Research Institute of Industry and Regional Economy and the results appear in the Nikkei Marketing Journal (5 June).
When asked about the number of consecutive days they took off work, 25.2% of respondents gave a total of 5–7 days; 21.3% said 3–4 days; 11.7%, said 8 days or longer; and 32% said that they were either not currently employed or that they would not be taking a holiday.
The activities the respondents planned during their holiday include (in descending order) domestic travel (26.5% of respondents); travel to home town and/or visit ancestral graves (21%); relax, mainly at home (16.8%); go to the cinema, go shopping, take part in recreational activities (9.7%); visit a theme park (7.5%); go swimming at a pool or water park (7.5%); and go camping or take part in other outdoor activities (4.7%).
Just over one-third of the respondents (34.4%) said their anticipated outlays were not expected to exceed ¥50,000. Some 15% of respondents predicted outlays of ¥50,000–¥100,000.
While 4.1% of respondents said they planned a holiday overseas, when broken down by income, 9.6% of respondents in households with an annual income of ¥8mn or more planned to travel abroad; 3% or fewer with incomes below ¥8mn had similar plans.
Of those in the top income segment, 20% said that they had budgeted more for their holiday this year, and 59.1% said their outlays would be unchanged from last year.