DP2015-13

The G rowing Indian Middle Class:
Attracting Indian T ourists to Japan

Srabani ROY CHOUD HURY

March 24, 2015

Title: The Growing Indian Middle Class: Attracting Indian Tourists to Japan
Abstract
Two policy decisions motivated this paper. One, a Japanese Government policy to increase thenumber of visitors to Japan by 30 million; and the other, growing India- Japan relations whereemphasizes on ‘People to People Exchange’ is increasingly gaining significance. While
conducting preliminary investigation on this subject, it was realized that India’s growing middle
class which is the main driver for consumption was being focused on by Japan as a single group
and not being considered as segmented entities. Further, the approaches of Japanese tourist
agencies towards attracting Indian tourists were similar to that of western tourists. Thus thispaper first discusses the changes in decision making pattern in Indian middle class families andwhy the relevant target group is top 3% of the pyramid. The study then ventures, through an
online questionnaire, into understanding what motivates foreign destination tourism among
this 3% of Indian consumers. Compilation of data showed certain contradictions to popularbeliefs. To gain clarity, the research used relevant cases from among the respondent group.
The findings of this research suggests that for Japan to be the choice of destination for Indian
tourists, it is critical to recognize that the needs of Indian tourists differ substantially from thatof the western world, and projecting that Japan is ready to meet those needs is essential.

Keywords: Indian middle class segmentation, Indian consumer’s decision making, Indian
consumer’s tourism desires, attracting Indian tourist to JapanJEL CODE M31, O53

Inquiries
Dr. Srabani Roy Choudhury
Associate Professor
Centre for East Asian studies
School of International Studies
Jawaharlal Nehru University

The Growing Indian Middle Class: Attracting Indian Tourists to Japan
By Dr. Srabani Roy Choudhury
Associate Professor
School of International studies
Jawaharlal Nehru University
Introduction
Japan has been trying to get out of its prolonged recession through various means. While monetary,
fiscal and structural changes have been the agenda, Prime Minister Koizumi in January 2003 first gave apush to the tourism sector by claiming that Japan would be looking at increasing its foreign visitors to 10
million. A policy direction was given to this by starting the ‘Visit Japan Campaign’ in April 2003. Land
mark policy directions were the December 2006 Enactment of Tourism Nation Promotion Basic law, June2007 cabinet decision on a Tourism Nation Promotion Basic Plan, establishment of Japan Tourism
Agency in October 2008. Establishment of this agency gave impetus towards creating an environment
which encouraged tourism. In June 2009, in the Basic Economic and Fiscal policy discussion, the Cabinet
mentioned “Realization of the Age of 20 million Foreign Tourists Visiting Japan i”. This was furthered by
Hatoyama’s Cabinet in October 2009 when the number was increased to 30 million foreign tourists. As apolicy, relaxations of visa was granted for Chinese people and under Kan Government ´Program for 30
million Foreign Tourists’ and ‘decentralized vacation’ were chosen as national strategic projects.
Under the Tourism Promotion Policy initiative, seven strategic areas were identified. They wereEnvironment and Energy, Health, Asian Economy Tourism and Revitalization, Science, Technology and IT
Employment, Fostering Human Development and Finance. The key was to increase the number offoreign visitors to Japan to 25 million per year by 2020 and then to 30 million. The underlying reason
was that tourism is a service sector that generates business and employment for various strata of thesociety and creation of new destinations and that newer types of man- made tourism would lead todevelopment of little known hinterlands establishing business and employment opportunities indispersed localities. Though the March 2011 earthquake was a setback to in- bound tourism, thegovernment along with the Tourism Agency came up with many initiatives in various countries to help
eradicate the fear and create a positive atmosphere to attract tourists. That policy direction was
carried over by the current government.

Fig 1: YEARWISE INBOUND BREAK-UP OF TOURIST TOTAL/ASIA/INDIA

Source: Japan National Tourism Agency
Asia has been predominant in sending its tourists to Japan as for many countries in the region, especiallyfor China and Republic of Korea; Japan is the closest foreign destination with a strong cultural affinity.
The White paper on Tourism published in 2012 claims, “A Japanese government initiative to more thandouble foreign tourism to 25 million visitors a year by 2020 is considered vital to the country's economic
health because of the shrinking Japanese population and downsizing of heavy industry.” A record 13.41
million foreign tourists visited Japan in 2014, a 30 percent jump from the previous year, and the number
may top 15 million in 2015. With Tokyo set to host the 2020 Olympics, Japan is all set to build
infrastructure and develop human resources to make it pleasant for the tourist and thus encourage
repeat visits.
While Japan has its policy in place and it has been steadily proving beneficial towards inbound tourism,
the Indian tourist to Japan is yet to show any significant preference to visit that country. Magnifying thedata for the Indian tourist visiting Japan one can see that in 2013 there were just over 70,000 visitors.

Fig: 2 Indian Tourists in Japan

Source: Japan National Tourism Agency
In spite of growing India Japan relations and Joint Statements made by the Prime Ministers of Japan andIndia in their annual meetings emphasizing on people to people exchange in which tourism isconsidered the foremost conduit, the ground reality of Indian tourists visiting Japan is miniscule evenwhile considering Trip Advisor’s statement in 2014 that there has been a 21percent rise in Indianstravelling abroad and the Amadeus Report of 2014 which says “Indian travelers to North East Asia, SouthAsia, South East Asia and the Pacific are increasing at 10percent annually or more."
However Japan has not been able to leverage this growing interest of Indian consumers to vacation inforeign destinations. Thus the objective of this study was to first understand Indian consumers andrealize the importance of targeting the right set of consumers, identify the interest of Indian tourists
with regard to choice of destination and activities and then to understand the perception that thepeople of India have about Japan. All this was done through a questionnaire based survey and casestudy method.
To gain an understanding of the target consumers, a background of the current profile of Indian
consumers becomes essential. A brief description of the new dynamics that has emerged in the Indian
consumer market because of changing societal norms and IT enabled technology warrants someattention.
India’s ascendance as an economic power has among other things unraveled a huge consumer market.
Even with slowdown of growth, consumerism is upbeat among the growing middle class. McKinsey,
National Council for Applied Research (NCAER) India and many others have segmented the Indiansociety according to the varied levels of consumerism.

Fig 3: Indian Middle Class Income Pyramid

Source: NCAER CMR stratification 2010
Fig 3A: India Middle Class Population (millions)

Source India: Unlocking the Demographic Dividend p9
The implication of a growing middle class can be gleaned from the above figure which shows that by2025, the middle and upper class alone will be larger than the entire population of the United States ofAmerica.

Five influential segments that are becoming powerful decision makers are the educated women in urban
areas, professional women who are also homemakers, youth of India, children above the age of 8 andrural India. While the first three influence tourism, the rural sector does not have significant population
who come into the middle and upper class. Further, the aspiration of the rich rural group in India is yet
to make any significant impact towards foreign tourism.
The middle class women have come of age as they are educated, often working professionals and havebroken away from the traditional sacrificing image, but does not want to go all the way. She wants toconform to the values she believes in and yet wants to do her own thing. She has also given her career apriority and thus is self indulgent. If she is a housewife, she has moved from being a ‘homemaker’ to a‘home manager’, and is respected for her decisions by her spouse.
The Youth of India are the darlings for retailers, however being young and having a long list of goods
that they aspire for they are not keen to spend on expensive vacations. At best they look at therelatively cheap South East Asia for a foreign visit.
The children of 8 years and above are often part of a nuclear family and have indulgent parents. They
are also tech savvy and thus have started commanding a role in decision making. Since Indian families
usually are family centric children come to play a decisive role in planning vacations and choice ofdestination.
So how can we interpret this with respect to tourism? According to McKinsey (fig 4) it is the .02percentof the affluent middle class who are the target group for the tourism sector which translates
approximately 2,000,000 million people. In the NCAER pyramid it is the upper 3percent. Although inpercentage terms it is small, the volume of this population segment is large and can mean a significant
number for in-bound tourism for Japan.

Fig: 4 CONSUMER PROFILES 2010

5.8%
94%

0.20%

lower income
Middle income
affluent

Business Opportunities for Japan: Attracting Indian Tourists
Methodology:

Considering the complexities of Indian consumers and the fact that international tourism isrestricted to a small segment of the Indian population, the study set out by targetinghouseholds with income of at least Rs. 300,000 which corresponds to 3percent NCAER. Further,
given that on an average, an educated Indian joins the work force around the age of 23 andmarries around the age of 30 and by the time household income also reaches the above
mentioned income level the individual is 35. Thus an age cap of 35 years was used.
The questionnaire format was used to conduct a survey. Since it was essentially a perception
study, ranking was the method used. Two sets of questionnaires were compiled: Questionnaire
A profiled the Indian respondent and Questionnaire B looked at attraction of Japan to theIndian tourist. The objective of Questionnaire A was to profile the respondents with respect toattitude towards vacationing in foreign destinations, the decision making process, destination
criteria, the choice of travel, activities during vacationing and financial considerations.
Questionnaire B was to garner information from respondents who have travelled abroad about
how they perceive Japan and reasons for not visiting Japan in spite of being well travelled. The
Questionnaires borrowed extensively from Travel Tourism Competitiveness Index with respect
to the general parameters. Questionnaire for international tourists used by Tourist Attraction
Development Division, Tourism Promotion Department of Tourism and Cultural Affairs Bureau,
City of Sapporo, was used as a reference point to map how to attract the Indian tourist to Japan.
The survey was conducted online by posting it on Face book. The researcher also pursued
some individuals who have a network among the targeted income group to post thequestionnaire on their social networking pages. The questionnaires were consecutively posted
for a month. 322 people responded to Questionnaire A, of which the valid number of responses
from among those who met requirement criteria was 132. However, incomplete and double
counting resulted in the number of valid respondents being further reduced to 102.
Upon compilation of data from the questionnaire, it was realized that some generalassumptions of why Indian tourists did not visit Japan were invalidated. Thus the researcher
realized that it was important to draw a sample from the respondents and hold intensive
interviews to enable an in-depth understanding of the issue at hand. Thus, eight case studies
were used to substantiate, authenticate and comprehend the obscurity behind reluctance ofIndian tourists visiting Japan. The cases were chosen from the categories defined below with
substitution of income and divergence of interest of travel. They were not only interviewed indetail about their decision making as well as other considerations; but those respondents whowere travelling abroad were queried in detail about their imaging of Japan, the knowledge andunderstanding of the country, their perception of the culture and people and the reason for not
visiting that country. A mix of income and the profiles was matched to identify the cases aslisted below:
 Both professionals with a monthly household income of above Rs 500,000; twochildren; well travelled for both business and pleasure, stayed in China for three years
but have not travelled to Japan (50percent of the 3percent of the Indian middle class) The male in business with huge inheritance and with income level of Rs.2, 000,000
monthly. Family consists of two children and a wife. Travels abroad more than once a
year for pleasure. (Top 5percent of the 3percent of the Indian middle class).
 Both professionals, no kids, monthly household income above Rs.5,000,000. Well
travelled for business and pleasure. Same destination twice over but never Japan. ( Top10percent of the 3percent of Indian middle class) Among top 1000 businessmen of India. Did not disclose income. Family of four. Well
travelled both for business and pleasure. Travelled to Japan for business reasons but
never for tourism(Top.02percent of the 3percent of the Indian middle class) Both husband and wife in business with a monthly household income of Rs. 400,000.
One kid. Well travelled to Europe, USA and South East Asia but never to Japan. ( Top50percent of the 3percent of the Indian middle class) Male in business with household income of Rs.10,000,000 monthly. Two kids.
Travelled to Europe Australia and South East Asia but never to Japan. ( 50percent of
the 3percent of the Indian middle class) Both professionals, no children. Monthly household income of Rs.3000,000. Mainly
travel for business but takes holiday in exotic destinations once in two
years.( 70percent of the 3percent of the middle class) Both professionals with monthly household income of Rs.500,000. Never travelledabroad but has intention to travel at least once in next two years. (50percent of the
3percent of the Indian middle class)Profiling the Respondents
Compilation of the data resulted in categorizing the respondents into three groups. The age
gender and regional break up can be gleaned from the data representation below. As for age,
80percent of the respondents were from the age group of 35-45 and 46-55, who are essentiallyrepresent the image of new-India. Post 55 years comprise of 20percent, though they are asignificant target group for tourism as they have more time for leisure, having ‘taken care of’ orhaving completed their family commitments. Low catchment of this group could be due topoor use of social networking. In gender profiling, there are lesser men respondents and inregional representation, south has few respondents as compared to other three regions.

However, the subject of query “attracting Indian tourist to Japan” is not compromised by thisage, gender and region profiling as is evident from the findings of this survey.

ii

Fig: 7 REGIONAL BREAK UP

28%

22%

North

South

36%

14%

East

West

It is well conceived that income, more importantly disposable income, is a critical consideration
for tourism and more so for foreign destinations. The survey thus set the level of monthly
income of the household to 300,000 rupees and above. The distribution is well represented
with 54percent of the respondents falling in the income bracket of Rs. 500, 000 to Rs.1, 000,000
which is a good representation of the population.
Categories

•

•

•

25.7% of the respondents were both working professionals with a median age of 42.
Significantly they were well travelled with high disposable income with 2percent of themeither single or without any kids. Double income no kids (DINKS) as they are referred tois an emerging phenomenon. Travel was both for pleasure and work.
71.9% of the respondents matched the typical image of upper middle class Indian
consumer, where the husband ran a business in form of small / medium/ large enterpriseand the wife was homemaker. This group has a very high level of disposable income, andhas the leisure and will to spend a sizable amount of money on themselves. Strongly
influenced by international brands and peer pressure, they have grown to look at foreign
destinations as way of show casing their status in their society.
2.4% of the respondents were both professionals like the other group. However, thedeparture was that they had not visited foreign countries; but 86percent of this groupclaimed that they aspire to visit a foreign destination in the next two years.

Fig:9 FREQUENCY OF VACATIONING ABROAD
35%
30%
25%
20%
15%
10%
5%
0%
ONCE IN TWOONCEYEARSMORE THAN ONCE AONCEYEAR A YEAR
IN THREE YEAR
No of Respondent %Among the respondents 18percent took vacations more than once a year; 32percent once a
year, 27percent once in two years and 22percent once in three years. Thus the target group in
the questionnaire fulfilled the necessary requirement and also the sufficient criteria of having awill to travel abroad.
Decision Making
Tourism, especially to a foreign destination is of prime intent in all households across theincome group. The most important deviation that was seen with respect to foreign destinations
was that while domestic travel included friends and relatives, travel abroad was essentially withspouse and children among 90percent of the respondents. Among the spouses, it was the maleparticipants who broadly decided the financial commitment, and beyond that the destination
was chosen by women and children.
The eight case studies pointed to the fact that deciding on a destination saw active
participation of children, and the children and the women went through rigorous research tozero in on a destination.

Internet search along with popular “must see” sites was found to be source of information.
86percent of respondent ranked the Internet as the most important information gathering site.
The role of the Internet is gaining momentum because the children too are becoming active
participants to the decision making process, and being savvy with Internet, they are able tosource relevant information not only with respect to sightseeing but also accommodation andtravel itinerary. While it is believed that word of mouth plays a major role in India, this survey
showed it was a poor 7percent. Self knowledge however played a significant part of decision
making. Travel programmes came in at 5percent and travel guide literature at 2percent. The
case studies thus focused on the issue of “self knowledge”. By self knowledge respondents
claimed that often a business trip to a particular destination becomes motivation for tourism,
especially for a vacation with family and thus figured high as an option.

The parameters for choosing a destination were taken from travel and tourism competitivenessindex and two parameters were added: namely, visiting relatives and friends and famous places.
The reason for this is that Indians, unlike the western travelers, include visiting friends andrelatives along with tourism, as culturally Indians like to keep up familial ties and it is costeffective to combine the two. The respondents were told to rank the 12 parameters. The
significant departure from western tourism was that rest and relaxation was not the prime
reason for travel; rather, it was ‘fun’. ‘Famous places’ followed by choosing destinations whererelatives were stationed were given strong consideration. Religious destinations were also nothigh on the list.
Choice of Travel

The choice of travel would seem irrelevant as every respondent travelled by air as very few cruises have
India as port of call. But this question helped the researcher in validating the corresponding income level
and also made it easy to target the case studies.
Activities during Tourism

Fig:13 DESTINATION ACTIVITIES
0.8
22.2

12.6

64.4

natureamusement park

Famous place

others

The activities that the respondents indulged in were significantly different from western travelers andneeds greater scrutiny. Clarity on the previous section on parameters under consideration whilechoosing a destination is achieved when the information is juxtaposed along with the above data. Highon the list was ‘amusement park’ as not only children but at least one of the spouses was enthusiastic
about this form of entertainment. The “fun” as a parameter for choice of destination- (Fig(14) wasintriguing and figured as a major reason in the case studies. While interviewing the selectedcases, this aspect was discussed in detail and the understanding that emerged was that theelement of fun included amusement parks, some adventurous sports which were not high risk
and seeing some street shows like circus. Yet another deviation from the western tourist wasthat night life carried little weight for foreign travel consideration. Cases categoricallyemphasized that since they travelled as a family, leaving the children behind and going out did
not merit consideration while deciding an itinerary. Although culture and history figured highon the choice of destination, the cases confirmed that it was not a prime mover: rather, nature
in form of cool weather, sea beaches or mountains with easy to medium trekking trail was
desired. The cases typically qualified that a destination with mix of a city/ metro and somenature was always the consideration. Thus, according to the cases, on a one-week vacation, it
would ideally be two days in a city where sightseeing would include historical monuments,
exhibitions, shopping etc., two days of amusement park and children’s activity, two days of
being with nature; either moving to the hills or sea shore which the cases claimed as rest andrelaxation, and one day for shopping.
Financial Considerations
The foremost consideration for the respondents in choosing a foreign destination has been
stay and daily allowance. The 2percent travelling by first class were typically staying in starred
properties and their budget extended way above the other two categories. The other twogroups stayed in budget hotels. The business class travel respondents mostly marked budget
hotels with only an insignificant number marking starred properties. The cases picked from thebusiness travel respondents said that travel by business class was predominantly supported bymileage points gathered due to business travel during the year.
Table: 1 A COMAPRISION OF HOTEL STAY FOR FOUR PEOPLE
City

Budget Hotel Cost #Lunch/Dinner Cost*

Local
Currency

USD

Local
Currency

USD

London88-103 GBP

150-175

60/120 GBP

100/200

Zurich156-178 Swiss 175-200Franc

70/105 Swiss 80/120
Franc

Paris

73-91 Euro

40/80 Euro

100-125

55/110New York

USD

175-200

USD

60/100San Francisco

USD

175-200

USD

60/100Tokyo

7606-10141
JPY

75-1008000/10000
JPY

80/100Kyoto

7600-10141
JPY

75-1006000/8000
JPY

60/80

Compiled from sites of Travel agencies
Since accuracy of budget break up was found wanting in the questionnaire format a survey of thebudget hotel rates was culled out from travel agency sites and it showed that among the destinations
visited by Indians like London and Zurich the rates were costlier than that of Tokyo and Kyoto, twoimportant hubs for tourist travel.

As for daily expenses, one can notice the frugality of Indian tourist. Ideally, targeted expense was $100
or less for 54percent of the respondents. The cases argued that it also depended on the place of visit asin Europe there are expensive locations like Austria as well as cheap destinations like Greece. However,the case respondents agreed that going above $150 did cause angst.
If one was to distribute the daily allowance in various categories one can notice that

Fig: 15 CATAGORIES OF EXPENSES

120
100

92

100
84

80
60
40
20

12

0
entry fee for sightseeing andEntry
museums
for shows, entertainmententry for clubs

Shopping

Catagories of Expenses
Shopping entry fee for sightseeing constitute substantial expense on a foreign trip. Clubs, pubs and nightlife which is a huge draw for the western tourist has little interest among the Indian respondents .
Shopping is high on the agenda for Indian tourists and is well documented. The data harnessed also gave
similar output.

Buying souvenirs predominated shopping with a whopping 72 respondents ranking it at 1. Not muchcan be assumed in studying the buying pattern among high, medium and low brands. There wasunanimous agreement that women were anxious to shop and often researched on the Internet about
what to shop and where to shop. They also gathered self knowledge through word of mouth. In somelocations the name and the location of the shop is so well known that it is almost a ritual to visit it. . The
cases also pointed out that they have little knowledge of Japanese brands and did not perceive Japan asa destination for shopping.
Having profiled and gathered information about vacationing abroad from respondents, it was importantto gather their perception of Japan in terms of imaging, awareness, knowledge of cities. Questionnaire B
sought information on these aspects which highlights the area of concern while targeting Indian tourists
to Japan.

Perception about Japan
Fig: 17 Rank 1

Friendly country

1.0

Quality conscious…

2.9

Cartoon producing…

2.9

Hardworking…

14.7

Exotic and…

3.9

Peace loving…

4.9

Expensive Country

Rank 1

4.9

Economically…
Technologically…
.0

5.9
58.8
20.0 40.0 60.0 80.0

The respondents were asked to rank certain qualities that are commonly attributed to Japan. The list ofqualities ranged from ‘friendly country’, ‘expensive country’, ‘technologically strong’, ‘economicallyadvanced’, to ‘hard working people’. The fig ( 18) ranks each quality. Almost sixty respondents have
rated Japan as a technological advanced nation, ranking that indicator as 1 . The second image is that ofJapan as a nation of hard working people. Most respondents were unaware of Japan’s exotic locales oreven of its culture, thus proving that Japan did not hold much attraction in how it is perceived by theaverage Indian tourist.

Fig : 18 EXOTIC AND BEAUTIFUL COUNTRY
3.9 2.0

4.9
7.8

81.4

1

2

3

4

5

To the western world Japan is an image of the mystical and exotic, of samurais and geishas: However,this image has little appeal among the Indian respondent. Only 3.9percent gave this image rank one and81.4percent gave it rank 5. Thus, foretelling that promoting Japan on the criterion of ‘exotic’, will havelittle or no recall by the Indians. Thus to sell ‘Japan’ to Indian tourists, the tourism department of Japanand various agencies need to understand Indian’s indulgence criteria during vacationing at foreign
destinations and thus reposition itself.
Fig: 19 KNOWLEDGE OF PLACES IN JAPANThe respondents were then given names of seven cities and asked to recall them. While Tokyo had 100
percent recall, Hiroshima and Nagasaki had 98.8percent recalls mainly because of the history attachedto them. Even Kobe with significant Indian Diasporas had less than 50percent recall, and Kyoto which isthe cultural capital had recall level of slightly over 50percent. This further show cased the relatively lowlevel of knowledge or awareness of Japan among Indian tourists. In questionnaire A, the researcher had
asked about activities that the respondents would indulge in when on vacation. Taking the first fiveranked activities the respondents were asked whether they would indulge in those activities in Japan.

Fig:20 ACTIVITIES IN JAPAN
0 1

21

0

73

Nature Amusement Parks

Historical Sites

Relax

No recall

To the Indian tourists the two most common reasons for choosing a destination is nature and fun in theform of amusement park. With respect to Japan, very few respondents had neither recall of any
particular natural heritage nor name of any amusement park. In fact
Thus the case studies became a good source of understanding the apathy towards Japan with respect toimage and activities associated with tourism. Among the eight case studies, three of them had visited
Japan on business. While each of them had seen a little of Tokyo during their visit, they had found little
time to visit any sites in and around Tokyo. While they liked Japan as a clean, polite and disciplined
country, they had no urge to bring their family for a vacation. When the respondent of a case who had
stayed in China was asked why not Japan, the reply was there was no list of any must see places in Japanand thus felt little interest to visit.
However what was intriguing was that the travel agencies in India had uniformly ascribed the reasonsfor not travelling to Japan as expensive, difficult because of language, cuisine and the recent tsunami
and earthquake which has resulted in lesser interest in Japan.

In an attempt to garner whether the potential tourist’s views matched with the views of the travel
agencies, the study asked the respondents to state their reasons for not visiting Japan with a ‘YES’ or‘NO’. Shopping was added as an indicator to a list of reasons stated by the travel agencies. Interestingly,
unlike the myth on which travel agencies rest their views of Indian tourists least interest on Japan,thedata as represented in the above bar diagram indicates even criteria of ‘expensive’ and ‘food/ cuisine’
had less than fifty percent of the respondent stating them as the reason.
Conclusion
According to the national census data of 2010, India’s population stands at 1,027,015,247. However as iswell known, the country has a large number of poor people and thus cannot qualify as an advanced
nation and for out-bound tourism. The ‘middle-class’ as termed by the NCAER stands at mere
0.20percent of the population. This middle class has been further segmented into three categories
according to household incomes. As pointed out early the essential target group is the 3 million
households of approximately 16 million people. This middle class would be growing to 26percent of the
population who would then be termed as affluent class by 2020. Thus this group needs to be identified
and targeted to ensure flow of tourist to Japan.
An interesting fact emerged from the respondents of Questionnaire A in which they were asked to list
the countries visited in order of first time vacation abroad to the latest one. The map that emerged
showed that first round of trip abroad is limited to South Asia, South East Asia and Dubai. Second roundis mainly to Europe, the third round is to the United States of America. Respondents were asked for theirreasons for choice of destination. The reasoning was South Asia and South East Asia are closer
destinations, with similar culture and relatively cheap. Europe has a lot of historical ties with India andthus a recall leading to a destination choice. Respondents chose USA because of the brand recall of thecountry. Australia, New Zealand, Mauritius and China come in as exotic locales and are destinations tobe explored once Europe has been visited. Japan should thus position itself as a vacation beyond thefirst two rounds.
To claim its position as a destination for Indian tourists Japan requires to build its image as a tourist
destination by offering tourist activities that Indians indulge in. Japan can showcase itself as aninexpensive tourist destination, promoting travel and including familiar cuisine to the Indian traveler.
Use of social media and cinema would also help elevate Japan’s recall in Indian minds.
Japan has huge potential as a tourist destination for travelers from India. A multi pronged approach inimage building, targeting and focusing on indulgence of Indian vacationers would help attract Indian
tourists and augur well for Japanese economy.

iWhite paper Japan Tourism Agency 2009ii

Fig5-21Compiled from Questionnaire survey questionnaire A and questionnaire B

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