No strangers to volcanic activity at home, Japanese travelers are bucking the trend with growing numbers heading to Hawaii for vacations.
While almost every other major international source market has slumped, Japan has grown by more than 10% since the eruption of the Kilauea volcano in early May.
According to a report by ForwardKeys, bookings from the Canada market are down 23.2% since the May 3 eruption, Australia has declined 32.2%, China 39.8%, and Germany is down by nearly 50%.
It is quite a turnaround as the Japan market is usually quick to shun destinations which are impacted by certain natural disasters, terrorism or geo-political tensions.
"Normally, the Japanese market is super-sensitive to crisis situations and it is the first to cancel when any form of trouble occurs in a destination," said ForwardKeys CEO Olivier Jager.
"Our hypothesis is that because Japan sits on the ‘Pacific Ring of Fire’ and has over a hundred active volcanoes, it is so used to earthquakes and volcanic eruptions that they cease to be newsworthy."
"Indeed, the situation in Hawaii has featured less in the news in Japan than it has elsewhere," Jager added.
ForwardKeys says forward bookings through the summer to Hawaii across all source markets are still slightly up by 2.2% compared to a year ago.
This is thanks to a strong August-October period, with travelers likely expecting things to be back to normal by then.
"The tourism outlook seems less worrying than might have been feared," the report noted.
