[Survey Release] Travel Booking Trends Ahead of 2026 "Double 5-Day Holidays" in GW & SW - Regional Needs Revealed, Tohoku is "Local-Oriented", Shikoku is "Urban-Oriented"
VALUES, Inc. analyzed 2025 accommodation booking data to forecast travel trends for the 2026 consecutive holidays. Kanto was the top destination. The survey revealed distinct regional differences, with Tohoku residents preferring local travel, while Shikoku residents favor other urban areas. Bookings tend to peak 1 month before and immediately before travel.
📋 Article Processing Timeline
- 📰 Published: April 24, 2026 at 20:00
- 🔍 Collected: April 24, 2026 at 11:31
- 🤖 AI Analyzed: April 25, 2026 at 02:21 (14h 49m after Collected)
VALUES, Inc. (Headquarters: Minato-ku, Tokyo; President: Hideyuki Tsujimoto, hereinafter "VALUES"), which provides marketing research and consulting services through internet behavioral log analysis, conducted an analysis of the days between booking and departure, as well as travel destinations, for users who booked travel involving overnight stays on the Web. With favorable calendar alignments in 2026 providing 5 consecutive days off in both spring (Golden Week) and autumn (Silver Week), mid-term travel needs involving stays of several days are expected to rise. We reveal travel destination trends and actual booking behaviors based on 2025 travel booking data.
[Survey and Analysis Overview]
Regarding travel bookers, we analyzed search behavior where the accommodation destination and booking month could be identified from the URL, targeting domestic hotel accommodation plans booked on major travel booking sites.
*The number of bookers was aggregated from PC and smartphone access and estimated based on the domestic internet population, using the appearance rate among VALUES' proprietary monitors.
▼This press release introduces a portion of the survey report.
The full version of the survey report summarizes the findings as follows.
You can download the full survey report for free from the form below.
https://manamina.valuesccg.com/articles/4788
◆ Kanto took the top spot by area for 2025 accommodation bookings at 24.7%
When investigating the accommodation destination areas of users who booked overnight travel throughout the year 2025, the "Kanto region" ranked first at 24.7%. This is likely due to the concentration of popular tourist spots and urban areas such as Tokyo and Kanagawa Prefecture.
This was followed by the "Chubu region" in 2nd place (20.5%) and the "Kyushu region (including Okinawa Prefecture)" in 3rd place (18.8%). Regions ranked high generally shared the common trait of having abundant tourism resources such as gourmet food and leisure activities.
◆ "Within the local area" is the mainstream for overnight travel. Tohoku had the most intra-area travel!
Targeting overnight travel bookers for the year 2025, an investigation into "accommodation destination area by residential area" revealed a high overall percentage of people choosing their own residential area as a travel destination. For example, 44.2% of Hokkaido residents traveled within Hokkaido, and 42.2% of Chubu region residents traveled within the Chubu region. It is inferred that short trips within residential areas are perceived as advantageous due to ease of travel and the ability to enjoy trips even over short periods.
On the other hand, it became clear that residents of the Chugoku/Shikoku area have a higher percentage of traveling to "other areas" such as the Kyushu and Kanto regions. This suggests they visit urban areas using transportation methods like airplanes and railways.
Furthermore, the Tohoku area had the highest percentage of intra-area travel. The results indicate a tendency to prefer relatively nearby travel, reflecting a deep attachment to their local area.
◆ Central Honshu (Kanto, Chubu, Kinki) travel destinations are scattered nationwide, while other areas show a "close-to-home" preference
We analyzed the characteristic travel booking areas by residents of each region for 2025.
As a result, areas located in central Honshu showed a tendency for travel destinations to be scattered across the country. In particular, it was found that the Kanto, Chubu, and Kinki regions travel relatively evenly across all areas of Japan. Conversely, in other areas, a trend was confirmed where travel was centered around neighboring areas close to their residence.
Another point of interest was that despite geographical proximity, some combinations showed low mutual booking rates. Specifically, the feature value for bookings to the Tohoku region by Hokkaido residents (-0.028) and bookings to Hokkaido by Tohoku residents (-0.060), as well as bookings to the Shikoku region by Kyushu residents (-0.047) and bookings to the Kyushu region by Shikoku residents (-0.003), were all low. This suggests a likelihood that travel "within the residential area" or to "slightly distant" locations is preferred over travel between close-range areas.
◆ Two peaks in booking timing: Tends to be a lot of travel bookings "just before" and "about 1 month before"
Confirming the user distribution by the number of days between the booking date and the day of travel, peaks were observed during two periods: "just before to 1 week before" and "about 1 month before."
From these results, it can be considered that bookers tend to split their bookings mainly into two timings. Furthermore, it also suggested the possibility of different types of travel needs existing: "trips prepared for in advance" and "casually planned trips."
◆ Travel bookings are mainly from "the previous month to the current month." February departures notably see "bookings two months prior"
Analyzing the "month of booking" by the departure month of the trip revealed that bookings are generally concentrated in the month prior to and the month of the trip.
[Survey and Analysis Overview]
Regarding travel bookers, we analyzed search behavior where the accommodation destination and booking month could be identified from the URL, targeting domestic hotel accommodation plans booked on major travel booking sites.
*The number of bookers was aggregated from PC and smartphone access and estimated based on the domestic internet population, using the appearance rate among VALUES' proprietary monitors.
▼This press release introduces a portion of the survey report.
The full version of the survey report summarizes the findings as follows.
You can download the full survey report for free from the form below.
https://manamina.valuesccg.com/articles/4788
◆ Kanto took the top spot by area for 2025 accommodation bookings at 24.7%
When investigating the accommodation destination areas of users who booked overnight travel throughout the year 2025, the "Kanto region" ranked first at 24.7%. This is likely due to the concentration of popular tourist spots and urban areas such as Tokyo and Kanagawa Prefecture.
This was followed by the "Chubu region" in 2nd place (20.5%) and the "Kyushu region (including Okinawa Prefecture)" in 3rd place (18.8%). Regions ranked high generally shared the common trait of having abundant tourism resources such as gourmet food and leisure activities.
◆ "Within the local area" is the mainstream for overnight travel. Tohoku had the most intra-area travel!
Targeting overnight travel bookers for the year 2025, an investigation into "accommodation destination area by residential area" revealed a high overall percentage of people choosing their own residential area as a travel destination. For example, 44.2% of Hokkaido residents traveled within Hokkaido, and 42.2% of Chubu region residents traveled within the Chubu region. It is inferred that short trips within residential areas are perceived as advantageous due to ease of travel and the ability to enjoy trips even over short periods.
On the other hand, it became clear that residents of the Chugoku/Shikoku area have a higher percentage of traveling to "other areas" such as the Kyushu and Kanto regions. This suggests they visit urban areas using transportation methods like airplanes and railways.
Furthermore, the Tohoku area had the highest percentage of intra-area travel. The results indicate a tendency to prefer relatively nearby travel, reflecting a deep attachment to their local area.
◆ Central Honshu (Kanto, Chubu, Kinki) travel destinations are scattered nationwide, while other areas show a "close-to-home" preference
We analyzed the characteristic travel booking areas by residents of each region for 2025.
As a result, areas located in central Honshu showed a tendency for travel destinations to be scattered across the country. In particular, it was found that the Kanto, Chubu, and Kinki regions travel relatively evenly across all areas of Japan. Conversely, in other areas, a trend was confirmed where travel was centered around neighboring areas close to their residence.
Another point of interest was that despite geographical proximity, some combinations showed low mutual booking rates. Specifically, the feature value for bookings to the Tohoku region by Hokkaido residents (-0.028) and bookings to Hokkaido by Tohoku residents (-0.060), as well as bookings to the Shikoku region by Kyushu residents (-0.047) and bookings to the Kyushu region by Shikoku residents (-0.003), were all low. This suggests a likelihood that travel "within the residential area" or to "slightly distant" locations is preferred over travel between close-range areas.
◆ Two peaks in booking timing: Tends to be a lot of travel bookings "just before" and "about 1 month before"
Confirming the user distribution by the number of days between the booking date and the day of travel, peaks were observed during two periods: "just before to 1 week before" and "about 1 month before."
From these results, it can be considered that bookers tend to split their bookings mainly into two timings. Furthermore, it also suggested the possibility of different types of travel needs existing: "trips prepared for in advance" and "casually planned trips."
◆ Travel bookings are mainly from "the previous month to the current month." February departures notably see "bookings two months prior"
Analyzing the "month of booking" by the departure month of the trip revealed that bookings are generally concentrated in the month prior to and the month of the trip.