I need information about Japanese people travelling:

- Which percentage of them speak english?
- Which percentage of them travel independently, not in tour operator
organized circuits?
- Which percentage of them prepare their trip using internet?
- Are Japanese familiar with paying on internet using credit cards?

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Request for Question Clarification by easterangel-ga on 08 Jul 2005 10:34 PDT

Hi! 

a.) I wasn't able to find the percentage of Japanese travelers who can
speak english.

However; I was able to find the following:

------------
b.)  2002 figures for the following requirements:

- Which percentage of them prepare their trip using internet?
- Are Japanese familiar with paying on internet using credit cards?


------------  
c.) About your second question "Which percentage of them travel
independently, not in tour operator organized circuits?", I was able
to find the following:

- 2003 report on percentage of Japanese travelers who use "packaged
tours" to the US only

- 1997-1998 report on percentage of Japanese travelers who rely on
travel agencies (however not necessarily packaged tours).


Will these findings be ok as an official answer?

Thanks!

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Clarification of Question by jyang-ga on 08 Jul 2005 14:00 PDT

Hello,

The data for 1997/98 are too old in the internet history.

The other data should work.

About first point, can you find the percentage of all Japanese
speaiking english? This would work I think.

Thanks

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Request for Question Clarification by easterangel-ga on 08 Jul 2005 14:36 PDT

Hi again!

So does this mean that the 2003 data for travel agents will be enough
for that part of your question?

Thanks!

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Request for Question Clarification by easterangel-ga on 08 Jul 2005 15:16 PDT

Hmmm... Even general statistics for english speakers in Japan seems
pretty rough at this point. Do you have any alternative requirement in
case we can't get this one?

Thanks!

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Clarification of Question by jyang-ga on 08 Jul 2005 16:26 PDT

Hello,

Yes, 2003 data will be fine for this part of the question.

For the english speaking Japanese... well, do your best, if we don't
have it, we'll do without.

Thanks

Hi! Thanks for the question.

I will try to answer your question in a point-by-point manner.


1.) Which percentage of the Japanese people English?

I wasn?t still able to find a specific and direct statistic to this
question. Some documents I read state and analyzed that the love for
the Japanese culture is being seen by outsiders as one of the main
reasons why the English language is not spoken so much in Japan and
stops the people from learning them. That is only their opinion.
However, I was able to identify the years school children are exposed
to the language.

The document state that English is taught starting at middle school in
Japan. But even though we have this information, the document also
states that teaching is limited to reading and writing and not really
for conversational skills.


?The Internationalization of Japanese Schools?
http://www.fcenter.keio.ac.jp/student/ivent/jpschools(Oda).pdf


Our next links are figures coming from the Japan MEXT (Ministry of
Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology).  The links have
figures for Japanese enrollees at the time for middle school and
beyond. This will give us a good picture of the number of the Japanese
population who has been exposed to the English language. Again this is
not an overall picture of those that can speak the English language
but only statistics of students who have been exposed to the English
language.
 
?UPPER SECONDARY SCHOOLS?
http://www.mext.go.jp/english/statist/gif/049.gif 

?SECONDARY SCHOOLS?
http://www.mext.go.jp/english/statist/gif/058.gif 

?UNIVERSITIES AND JUNIOR COLLEGES?
http://www.mext.go.jp/english/statist/gif/078.gif 


2.) Which percentage of Japanese travelers travel independently, not
in tour operator organized circuits?

?Looking more specifically at the country segments revealed that about
40% of all Japanese travelers, regardless of the segment, traveled to
the U.S. using a package.? (2003 figures)

So we can see from this figure that 60% travel independently.

?2003 Shopping & Tourism Report?
http://www.ita.doc.gov/media/FactSheet/1204/tourism1_122004.html 


3.) Which percentage of Japanese travelers prepare their trip using internet?

In 2002 survey by the Japan Association of Travel Agents: 

- 52.6% say that the internet influenced them to undertake travel by a
particular website.
- 52.2% say that decided on a particular destination based on
information by a particular website.
- Only 23.8% say that it is easy to compare travel plans by using the internet.
- 42.6% use travel agent sites.


4.) Are Japanese familiar with paying on internet using credit cards?

Based upon the easiness factor in purchasing travel products in Japan,
here are the things we can surmised on how Japanese travelers view
purchasing travel products on the internet.
 
- Only 30% say that they are uneasy in purchasing travel products in
the internet. So 70% then are very comfortable with it,

?Websites Play Increasingly Important Role?
http://www.jata-net.or.jp/english/reports/2002/0409.htm 


Search terms used:
Japan Japanese travelers statistics
English language speak speakers 


I hope these links would help you in your research. Before rating this
answer, please ask for a clarification if you have a question or if
you would need further information.
                                                          
                              
Regards,                              
Easterangel-ga                              
Google Answers Researcher

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Request for Answer Clarification by jyang-ga on 09 Jul 2005 11:40 PDT

Hello,

Thank you very much. Even if we don't have all the information, this is useful.

Still, I am not sure of your interpretation of the document provided in point 4:

I read in the document: "More than three quarters of the respondents
said that they had some unease about ordering travel products over the
Internet. The most common reason for being uneasy was that they
"cannot be sure the procedure to apply has been completed."

It seems to me that more than 75% of the people felt uneasy, and only
25% didn't feel uneasy.

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Clarification of Answer by easterangel-ga on 09 Jul 2005 13:05 PDT

Hi jyang-ga! Thank you for responding quickly.

I apologize, I made a mistake in the interpretation of the data. It
seems indeed that only 25% felt at ease with online purchasing of
travel products.

I got confused by the chart referenced by the data. The chart as you
can see was color coded and the gravity of the uneasiness is denoted
by the shades of pink. The color green is the indicator that such
people are at ease with online transactions.

I hope this clarification was helpful.

Thanks!