Domestic travel was the most commonly enjoyed leisure activity last year in Japan, but the ratio of people who went on trips was still below the level seen the year before restrictions were imposed in the country due to the coronavirus pandemic outbreak, according to a survey by a Tokyo-based nonprofit.
The percentage of people who went traveling and sightseeing, including on day trips, once or more rose 5.9 percentage points from 2022 to 48.7 percent, becoming the most enjoyed leisure activity for the second straight year, the Japan Productivity Center said.
While the rise is attributable to Japan's downgrading of the coronavirus' legal status to the same category as seasonal flu in May last year, the figure was still lower than the 54.3 percent seen in 2019 before the pandemic.
"There may be some people, especially the elderly, still concerned about coronavirus infections," a center official said.
The average annual budget for domestic travel in 2023 was around 133,000 yen ($865), up by some 30,000 yen from the previous year, possibly due to higher accommodation and dining fees amid surging inflation in the country.
Dining out was ranked second at 39.2 percent, up by two spots from the previous year, likely reflecting the dissipation of the pandemic's impact on people's lives, according to the preliminary version of the center's "Leisure White Paper 2024" released on July 22.
Watching videos came in third at 37.0 percent, followed by reading at 36.3 percent and listening to music at 34.5 percent, showing the popularity of activities that can be carried out indoors.
The online survey was conducted in February and garnered valid responses from 3,303 people between the ages of 15 and 79.
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