PACRIM MARKETING GROUP • JAPAN
An understanding of Asian holidays and their impact on destinations and global economies is crucial to increasing share and spend of the Asian International Traveler market. Travel marketers can gain an edge by arming themselves with more information about these holidays so they can time campaigns strategically with pre-departure travel planning.
For example, Japan’s recently designated May 1 holiday – marking the day the new Emperor ascends the throne in 2019 – increases Japan’s Golden Week to 10 days. Now official, the extended Golden Week creates more traveler-related marketing opportunities in 2019.
Several Japanese holidays fall on consecutive days and are combined into what is known as “Golden and Silver Weeks.” These holidays fall in April/May and September respectively.
Seven legal festivals in China are recognized by its federal government each year; these festivals usually give workers 3 week days off. Many take advantage of this time to travel. Chinese festivals include New Year’s Day, Chinese New Year (Spring Festival), Qingming Festival, May Day, Dragon Boat Festival, Mid-Autumn Festival and National Day.
Korea similarly celebrates Korean Lunar New Year and Harvest Festival – a time where offices are closed for a week.
Marketers increase their chances of capturing share and spend of the Asian traveler markets when they plan campaigns and promotions during these important holidays. Increasing tourism initiatives in China and Japan are even more reason to keep an eye on trends in Asia.
To help clients with best practices in tourism marketing, PacRim has been tracking trends, holidays, and festivities in Asia since its founding in 1990. The 2019-20 calendar includes Japanese, Chinese, and Korean holidays to help businesses with marketing programs planned around Asia’s seasonality and national holidays. In addition, the calendar includes holidays in the US, Hawaii and Guam.
Click here to download the 2019-20 Asian Holiday Calendar.
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The views and opinions expressed in this blog are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of any other agency member of Travel Consul.