How much did it cost? That’s the question on friends’ lips when returning from a Japan ski holiday with a family of five in tow. After all, Japan has been labelled “the new Bali”. The poor performing yen is making our dollar travel further — at the time of writing an Aussie dollar is worth 102.
7 yen — up from Y86.5 a year ago and Y65.7 in 2020.
Japan is Australians’ top international tourist destination, according to data from travel booking behemoth Expedia. Expedia’s Daniel Finch says that anywhere using the Euro or US dollar is expensive for Australians and adds: “Japan is a really good option for people who don’t want to travel to North America or Europe but who want the snow.” Nic Klar, an author of web guides for the Nagano ski area, quotes the “75-yen rule” and claims the number of Aussie visitors to Japan had doubled since pre-COVID and quadrupled since 2014.
Journalism for the curious Australian across politics, business, culture and opinion. “A lot of regular skiers I know who come to Japan have 75 yen to $1 (AUD) as their sort of break point. Once it drops below that point a Japan ski trip becomes more marginal,” he says.
“So at almost parity it becomes a much more affordable proposition. So I guess that is a big factor driving the rise.” Tourism operator Peter Douglas, who’s based in Nozawa Onsen, says Australians and Kiwis made up about 40 per cent of the mountain village’s tourist intake last winter, with the rest dominated .