July 15, 2010 - Tokyo, Japan - Research Panel Asia Inc.(RPA, Tokyo, Japan, CEO: Shogo Nakazato) which conducts marketing research in APAC has conducted an original survey in Japan, China and Korea , regarding their plans of the summer vacation in 2010.

Method of Survey

Background

Being just close to the summer vacation, RPA has carried out an attitude survey of summer vacation 2010 in Japan, China, and Korea. Under the circumstances of such as the appreciation of the yen for Japanese, relaxation of the regulations of the tourist visa to Japan for Chinese, it is getting much easier for people in these countries to travel abroad. RPA has conducted this survey to understand the cultural difference in the way of spending the summer vacation for each country.

Findings

1. 1) 68.3% of Chinese people are planning to take the summer vacation for "more than 7 days", whereas only 29.2% of Japanese and 4.7% of Korean have answered so.
2. 2) The most popular way to spend the summer vacation is domestic tours in all three countries.
3. 3) In all three countries, majority of the people answered that they use the internet as the primary help to gather information when planning the trip details.

Among three countries(Japan, China and Korea), Korean people show the highest percentage in the actual acquirability of a vacation this summer at 85.2%, while 64.1% in Japan, and 74.7% in China. There is a big difference in the length of summer vacation between the countries and 68.3% of the Chinese respondents answered that they plan to have more than 7 days off. Despite the social situation enabling people to go abroad more easily, the most answered for the way of spending the summer vacation was "going to domestic trip" in all three countries, and many of them will refer to websites for traveling when they make a plan.

Summary of the result

(1) People in China relatively plan to take a long vacation.

Q: How long do you plan to have the summer vacation this year? (weekend and national holidays inclusive if it would be consecutive.) [SA]
People in China tend to plan having a longer vacation showing that majority of respondents saying that they will take more than 7 days, while 29.2% in Japan and only 4.2% of respondents in Korea do.

(2) In all three countries, the most popular way to sped the summer vacation is to go on a domestic trip.

Q:How do you plan to spend this summer vacation? [MA]
While the number of people who travel abroad is expected to increase with the conditions that Chinese people being able to acquire the tourist visa to Japan more easily, or rising value of the yen, the rate of people who go on a domestic trip is the highest in all of three countries. On the contrary, the rate of people who go on an overseas trip is relatively low, with 7.8% only in Japan.

(3) It is the common way to use the Internet when people plan details for traveling.

Q:What do you consult when you make a plan of traveling? [MA]
It is shown that Internet is becoming the common way to gather information, as approximately total of 50% of the respondents refer to website of traveling guide. In China, the percentage of people who consult the "travel agency" or "friends or the acquaintances" is over 60%, showing the tendency that people prefer to receive direct information from others.