Holiday train reservations track 16% rise

Jiji Press

17:56 JST, December 17, 2022

TOKYO (Jiji Press) — The number of train seats reserved for the year-end and New Year holiday period stood at 2.83 million as of Thursday, up 16% from a year before, according to data released by six Japan Railways Group companies on Friday.

Demand for train services for travel and homecomings is on a recovery track, although the impact of the coronavirus pandemic has yet to be wiped out, observers said.

For the period between Dec. 28 and Jan. 5, 2.32 million Shinkansen bullet train seats were booked, up 15%, and 510,000 seats for other trains, up 19%.

The numbers are equivalent to about 70% of the level during the holiday period in 2018-19, before the pandemic battered travel demand.