This year's Golden Week holidays from Friday to the first week of May will likely add 200 billion yen to the nominal gross domestic product by fueling expenditures, according to a private think tank.
The greater outlays for leisure, travel and other activities will likely inflate the nominal GDP in the April-June period by 0.2 percent, compared with the same quarter a year earlier, the Dai-ichi Life Research Institute, an arm of Dai-ichi Mutual Life Insurance Co., said Wednesday.
The nation's leading companies are planning to give employees an average of 6.3 days off, which is 0.7 of a day more than in usual years, the think tank noted in a report.
Japanese people are projected to spend 219.9 billion yen to fund their activities during the holidays, including domestic and overseas travel, the report said.
Since any outlay for overseas trips must be subtracted when computing a nominal GDP figure, the Golden Week-related expenditures minus overseas trip-induced outlays are expected to push up the quarterly GDP by a net 201.4 billion yen, according to the report.
Breaking down the figure according to spending recipients, the service industry will likely get 105.2 billion yen and the retailing and wholesale industry 38.8 billion yen, it said.
Although many people have canceled tours to China in light of the recent spate of anti-Japanese protests, it may have a positive effect on nominal GDP by inducing more domestic spending, it said. In addition, the World Exposition in Aichi Prefecture will likely draw more visitors.