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The performance of an outbound tourism industry is usually judged by the number of people travelling abroad or by tourism receipts. Industrial organisation offers a different lens. A more revealing question is whether travel agencies have the power to set prices or are simply compelled to accept the market price. The contrast between South Korea […]

Why international tourism no longer fits neatly into the economic categories that once defined it. For much of modern history, overseas travel was the privilege of the affluent. Crossing national borders for leisure demanded substantial disposable income, generous amounts of free time and, in many cases, access that few people enjoyed. Calling international tourism a

How Behavioral Economics Is Rewriting Tourism Economics For decades, economics has treated tourists as rational consumers. Lower prices encourage travel, while higher costs discourage it. Traditional tourism economics has therefore focused on variables such as airfares, exchange rates, and household income as the primary determinants of tourism demand. Reality, however, is far less straightforward. There

When tourism is discussed, most people think first of hotel occupancy rates, duty-free sales, or visitor arrivals. Governments, too, tend to measure success by the number of international visitors and the revenue they generate. Such an approach, however, captures only a fraction of tourism’s economic significance. In the modern economy, tourism is no longer merely

Rethinking Government Support for Tourism Through the Lens of Economics Governments spend billions each year to attract international visitors. Airlines receive route-development incentives, travel agencies benefit from promotional support, and national tourism organizations invest heavily in destination marketing campaigns. Such measures are often defended as essential tools for stimulating local economies, creating employment and strengthening

Governments around the world are increasingly introducing tourism taxes. From accommodation taxes in Kyoto and Osaka, tourism taxes in Amsterdam, New Zealand’s International Visitor Conservation and Tourism Levy (IVL), to Venice’s recently introduced day-tripper entrance fee, charging visitors an additional fee has become an increasingly common policy instrument. Many other destinations are also considering similar

Part I. Tourism, Economic Thought, and the Search for a New Policy Paradigm Economic history is often written as a succession of competing ideas. Classical economics celebrated the self-correcting power of markets. Keynesian economics argued that markets occasionally fail and therefore require active government intervention. Neoliberalism responded that excessive state involvement frequently creates distortions greater

Hedonic Motivations in Overseas Destination Choice To examine the structure of hedonic motivations underlying Korean travelers’ overseas destination choices, a principal component analysis (PCA) was conducted using four key variables: availability of attractions, local cuisine, shopping opportunities, and availability of activity programs. The first two principal components explain approximately 86.3% of the total variance, indicating

This article analyzes travel consumption patterns using microdata from the third quarter (July~September 2025) of the Japan national tourism survey released by the Japan Tourism Agency under the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism. The principal component analysis (PCA) summarizes the joint variation in three expenditure-based travel purposes, leisure travel, visiting friends and relatives

The principal component analysis (PCA) based on quarterly Japanese outbound travel micro-aggregation for July~September 2025 reveals a strongly structured two-dimensional behavioral space that captures the dominant heterogeneity in travel purpose, companionship, duration, and booking modality. The first principal component (PC1) explains 79.3% of the total variance, while the second component (PC2) accounts for an additional

The principal component analysis based on Japanese outbound travel data for the third quarter of 2025 (July~September) reveals a clear two-dimensional structure explaining 81.6% of the total variance (PC1 = 58.0%, PC2 = 23.6%), indicating that heterogeneous travel behavior across demographic groups, residential regions, and destination markets during this period can be summarized by a

Outbound travel from Korea, Japan, and Taiwan strengthened in 2025, with Japan and Taiwan recording double-digit annual growth while Korea posted a more moderate expansion. The data suggest a continued normalization of regional travel demand alongside improving household confidence and currency-related travel incentives. Korea remained the largest outbound market in absolute terms, sending 29.6 million

A recent review of the KRW-based Nominal Bilateral Exchange Rate Index (2023=100) suggests that overseas travel has become broadly more expensive for Korean tourists since early 2025, reflecting the weakening of the Korean won against several major destination currencies. Because an increase in the index indicates a depreciation of the won and therefore higher travel costs abroad,

The figure presents the JPY-based nominal bilateral exchange rate index for major outbound tourism destinations of Japanese travelers, constructed with 2023 as the base year (2023 average = 100). Index values above 100 indicate a relative depreciation of the yen against destination currencies and therefore a deterioration in tourism price competitiveness from the perspective of Japanese outbound demand, whereas values at or

Japan’s outbound tourism market continued its recovery throughout 2024, supported by steady growth in both traveler volumes and travel-related spending. Monthly indicators show that Japanese residents are increasingly traveling overseas, while Travel Expenditure per Traveler (TEPT) – defined as the average amount of overseas travel expenditure incurred by an outbound traveler – has strengthened markedly,