Japan is a dynamic outbound tourism market that shows a special love for Greece. On the occasion of the declaration of 2024 as the Greece-Japan Year of Culture and Tourism, the Research Directorate of the Ministry of Tourism conducted a survey on the characteristics of the Japanese market.
According to the results of the survey, the great cultural heritage and unique landscapes of Greece are the main motivations for Japanese travelers to choose our country as a destination. The emblematic images and photographs of Greece are a key means of promotion. Key challenges are the lack of direct flights between the 2 countries as well as the high prices of travel packages to Greece. Most visitors are over 60 years old (senior tourism) but there are significant flows from working people (honeymooners, women). Usually, these are middle and high income visitors. They prefer to visit Greece during autumn and spring and avoid the summer season because of the high temperatures.
The role of travel agencies is particularly important in attracting tourists from Japan while efforts are being made to add less popular destinations to the classic route and to create packages for Northern Greece. The following thematic formats show significant popularity or further development potential: cruise, wedding ceremonies and honeymooners, culinary, sports, mountain-winter.
THE Croatia and Turkey constitute the major competitor countries us. As noted, special emphasis must be placed on solving problems that make the work of tourist agencies difficult, such as the lack of Japanese-speaking guides, the limited visibility of Greece in the Japanese media and the lack of promotion of less popular destinations.
The detailed results of the research are as follows:
Motivations for choosing Greece as a destination
Basic motivations for choosing Greece as a destination are:
-the uniqueness of the overall cultural heritage (Antiquity, Byzantium)
– the abundance of monuments and archaeological sites. It should be noted that Greek history and mythology is taught in schools and the average Japanese has knowledge of Greek culture and especially of the Athenian Republic and Alexander the Great but also of ancient Greek philosophy and tragedy,
– the Greek nature and iconic landscapes. They choose emblematic monuments and landscapes that enjoy worldwide recognition, e.g. are included in the list of world cultural and natural heritage of UNESCO,
-The iconic images (the blue and white of the Aegean, the blue domes of Santorini, the windmills of Mykonos, the cobbled streets of the islands), since Japanese visitors like to take nice pictures to upload to social media (mainly Instagram) ). Characteristic is the fact that since then it became widely known in Japan, the demand for this destination has increased significantly.
-Greece is considered a more economical destination compared to other European countries.
-The possibility of visiting multiple destinations within our country due to the short distances.
Parameters that make the trip to Greece difficult
The main inhibiting factor in choosing Greece as a tourist destination is the lack of direct flight. As mentioned typically, the existence of a direct flight constitutes a sign of respect to the Japanese traveler (“how do you count him as a tourist”) and can be one new basis for approaching the Japanese market.
An additional difficulty is the increase in the duration of flights to Europe, due to the war in Ukraine. Difficulty in finding business class seats is observed, especially in the case of groups that require the reservation of numerous seats and senior travelers, who avoid long-haul flights with many stops.
The price of the air ticket also greatly affects the cost of the overall package. As pointed out by a research participant, the air ticket to Italy is often cheaper than the equivalent to Greece, a fact that affects the choice of destination.
Characteristic is the fact that an average package that it cost 1,500 euros the 2019 the 2023 came to cost 4,000 euros.
Also, due to the fall in the yen-euro exchange rate, the overall cost of visiting destinations within the Eurozone had increased in previous years. As a result, many Japanese turned to domestic destinations or to affordable destinations such as Turkey, which has direct flights and the services offered are more economical.
