Travel agency JTB Corp. predicted Monday that the number of Japanese tourists traveling overseas during the yearend holiday season will be 437,000, a 33.3 percent decline from the previous year.
But the nation's domestic travelers will increase 1.7 percent to hit 29.73 million during the period between Dec. 23 and Jan. 3., brining the total number of domestic and overseas travelers to 30.16 million, up 0.9 percent, JTB said.
The nation's largest travel agency explained that many travelers switched their destinations from abroad to domestic locations in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in the United States.
Total spending by domestic and overseas travelers will slip 0.9 percent to 1.21 trillion yen, with that of overseas travelers falling 29.1 percent to 103.8 billion yen, JTB forecast.
Spending by domestic travelers will meanwhile increase 2.9 percent to 1.06 trillion yen, it estimated.