Overseas Package Tour Day

What Is Overseas Package Tour Day?

Every January 20th is "Overseas Package Tour Day" (海外団体旅行の日, Kaigai Dantai Ryokō no Hi) in Japan. On January 20, 1965, Japan Airlines began selling Japan's first overseas package tours under the brand "JAL PAC" (ジャルパック) — offering all-inclusive group travel packages that combined international flights, hotel accommodation, and ground transfers at a bundled price. The launch of JALPAC democratized overseas travel, making international holidays accessible to middle-class Japanese for the first time and inaugurating an era of outbound Japanese tourism that would eventually make Japanese visitors one of the world's most numerous and recognizable traveler groups.

The Birth of Japanese Mass Tourism

Before 1965, international travel from Japan was largely restricted to business travelers and the wealthy — both because of the cost and because the Japanese government had maintained foreign exchange controls that limited the amount of money individuals could take abroad. The liberalization of foreign travel in 1964 and the introduction of affordable package tours in 1965 transformed overseas travel from a luxury into an accessible aspiration. JALPAC and its competitors offered structured group itineraries to Hawaii, Europe, and Southeast Asia that took care of all logistics, making overseas travel practical even for travelers with no foreign language ability.

The Outbound Tourism Boom

Japan's outbound tourism grew explosively through the 1970s and 1980s. By the late 1980s at the peak of the "bubble economy," wealthy Japanese tourists were a global phenomenon — buying luxury goods in Paris, staying in top hotels in New York, and visiting resorts across Southeast Asia in numbers that generated both economic benefit and cultural commentary in their destinations. The number of Japanese traveling overseas peaked at approximately 17 million in 2019 before the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted international travel globally.

Japan as a Tourism Destination

While Japan developed as a major source of outbound tourists, it has also grown dramatically as an inbound tourism destination. Foreign visitor numbers to Japan rose from under 7 million in 2011 to a record 31.9 million in 2019 — a remarkable transformation driven by yen depreciation, improved aviation access, and growing global interest in Japanese culture, food, and natural landscapes. This inbound tourism revolution has transformed Japan's economy and sparked new conversations about over-tourism, cultural preservation, and the management of popular destinations.

Fun Facts

• JALPAC today: JAL PAC (now JGP/JAL Globe Packages) continues to operate as one of Japan's major overseas travel package providers, adapting to the era of individual FIT (Fully Independent Travel) with customizable package components rather than purely group tours.
• Hawaii connection: Hawaii has been Japan's most popular overseas leisure destination since the earliest days of mass outbound tourism and remains a major destination for Japanese travelers, honeymooners, and second-home owners.