Package tours from Japan, which have been absent in Hawaii for the past two years of the pandemic, are returning in time for the start of Golden Week on Friday.

Golden Week is traditionally a robust travel time for Hawaii because the period, which includes four national holidays, forms the longest vacation of the year for many Japanese workers.

This year it starts April 29, or Showa Day, which honors the birthday of Emperor Showa, or Hirohito. The timing is favorable because Japanese travelers who take the following Monday off from work, May 2, will have a total of seven days off.

There are national holidays on May 3 to 5 marking Constitution Day; Greenery Day, which celebrates nature; and Children’s Day.

In years past, Golden Week’s performance has been tied to calendar alignment, as well as the Japanese economy, prices and yen strength. Some years are better than others.

Eric Takahata, managing director of Hawaii Tourism Japan, a contractor for the Hawaii Tourism Authority, said Golden Week in Hawaii was virtually nonexistent in 2020 and 2021 due to fear of COVID-19 and travel restrictions in Hawaii and Japan.

“This year, we are expecting about 1,000 visitors from Japan for each day of Golden Week,” he said.

Takahata said the results fall below a normal pre-pandemic Golden Week, which typically draws 4,000 to 6,000 visitors to Hawaii per day. However, he said, this year’s holiday arrivals are promising given that in all of 2021, only 24,000 or so visitors from Japan came to Hawaii.

“If we get 6,500 to 7,000 visitors from Japan for this year’s Golden Week, it will be three months’ worth of last year’s business all in one week,” he said.

Takahata said another favorable development is that this year’s Golden Week includes package-tour travelers.

“Pre-pandemic package tours were 55% to 60% of Hawaii’s Japanese visitors, so it’s really important that they are starting back up,” he said.

TETSUYA “Ted” Kubo, president and CEO of JTB Hawaii Inc., said the company resumed selling Hawaii package tours on April 15, with the first tours starting Thursday.

H.I.S. Co. Ltd. also is on track to resume Hawaii tours on May 1, which will be the company’s first Hawaii tours in about 26 months.

H.I.S. said it was resuming package tours in response to the loosening of quarantine requirements in Japan and the Japanese government’s decision to lower the U.S.’s infectious disease risk from Level 3 to Level 2.

Kubo said Japan travel companies weren’t allowed to sell package tours at a Level 3 risk.

“Now it’s left to the travel companies to make sure safety measures are in place and the destination is well-prepared for the customers,” he said.

Kubo said the resumption of package tours is very positive news for JTB Hawaii, which saw its pandemic workforce drop to about 20% of its pre-pandemic level.

As of last month, JTB Hawaii’s workforce increased to 52% of its pre-pandemic level.

“Going forward, JTB will continue to bring more employees back to work as the number of travelers the company provides its services to increases,” Kubo said.

Getting back to normal is going to take time, he said.

“As much as we would like to see a huge demand come back, in reality April is more of a symbolic return of the customers,” Kubo said. “Volume may not be as much as we would like to see.”

He added that travelers from Japan still face booking challenges. Japan’s government earlier this month increased its inbound limit to 10,000 arrivals per day — less than 10% of pre-pandemic daily counts.

Visitors from Japan also face lengthy airport wait times, up to three hours, to take a PCR test upon their return home, he said.

Hawaiian Airlines spokesperson Tara Shimooka said the carrier’s schedule remains the same for Golden Week and through May, with three flights a week between Honolulu and Tokyo’s Narita International Airport and once-weekly service between Honolulu and Osaka.

“We are encouraged by Japan’s progressive easing of travel restrictions; however, a passenger arrivals cap for all airlines operating flights to Japan limits our ability to restore service,” Shimooka said. “The Japanese government’s decision to increase the arrivals cap to 10,000, as well as lower the U.S. travel advisory level, is a promising sign, but we will need significant further policy changes to be able to reopen this key Hawaii visitor market.”

Duke Ah Moo, Hilton vice president and commercial director for Hawaii and French Polynesia, said he is optimistic that Japan’s government-imposed limit on the number of travelers returning to Japan will be raised in the near future, thereby allowing more visitors to come to the islands.

“Hilton is excited for the return of visitors from Japan, and we are ready to welcome them back with open arms,” Ah Moo said. “Hawaii is the top international vacation destination for Japanese travelers, and we expect the pent-up demand over the past two years to result in a significant amount of visitors over the coming year.”

Dave Erdman, founder, CEO and president of PacRim Marketing Group Inc. and PRTech, said demand is strong and better times will follow.

While air-seat inventory for Golden Week this year is not as robust as in the past, Erdman said available inventory for Japan-to-Hawaii air carriers is heavily booked for the holiday period, with several dates completely sold out.

Takahata said airlines are reporting that the load factor for Golden Week is over 90% for premium business seats, which are going for as much as $10,000.

“The prices speak to the demand for Hawaii,” he said.

JAPAN Association of Travel Agents Chairperson Hiro­yuki Takahashi, who visited Hawaii with a delegation earlier this month, said he expects Japanese visitors will return to Hawaii this year at 40% of the pre-pandemic 2019 level. By next year, arrivals are forecast to reach or exceed the 2019 level, Takahashi said.

Erdman said Japan’s decision to relax quarantine requirements and to stop the mandatory hotel quarantine already has stimulated short-term interest in a Hawaii vacation and in planning for summer and fall trips.

“We encourage our travel partners in Hawaii on all islands to gear up for a potentially positive rebound of Japanese travelers in mid to late summer and early fall as we see more demand and new seat capacity come back to the market,” he said.

Erdman noted that Japan will celebrate Silver Week over two long weekends Sept. 17-19 and Sept. 23-25.

Sam Shenkus, Royal Hawaiian Center’s vice president and director of marketing, said she expects to see more improvement in visitor arrivals from Japan to Hawaii as even more impediments are lifted in advance of the two most popular Japanese holiday travel periods, Obon in mid-August and Shogatsu, which marks the new year.

“Golden Week is important because it is the beginning of the increase in Japanese visitors to Hawaii. But beyond is going to be so much bigger,” she said. “Pre-COVID, the No. 1 holiday for bodies and spending was Shogatsu — that’s the mothership of Japanese holidays.”

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Golden Week 2022

>> April 29: Showa Day, birthday of the late Emperor Showa, or Hirohito, who reigned in Japan from December 1926 to his death on Jan. 7, 1989.

>> May 3: Constitution Day marks the 1947 ratification of the Japanese constitution.

>> May 4: Greenery Day honors nature.

>> May 5: Children’s Day celebrates children’s personalities and their happiness.