Weekend Beat: Grads take final flings

BY FUMIHIKO YAMADA, THE ASAHI SHIMBUN

The peak season for graduation trips by college and junior college students will soon begin. In recent years, an increasing number of students are going on budget tours to mark their graduation--and not just once.

The latest trend has the students traveling twice, three or even four times, each with a different set of friends. Behind this is the fact that the new graduates are finding themselves in a sellers' market when job-hunting. Since many students are able to land a job early on, the season for graduation trips seems to be getting longer.

In mid-March, a student will go on a three-day trip to Kagoshima Prefecture with a fellow boarder. For a week starting March 22, she plans to travel to Southeast Asia or Korea with three friends from her senior high school days. In late March, she will fly to Korea or Taiwan with 10 friends from a club at college. In addition, she is trying to schedule a three-day trip to Korea at the end of February with a friend from a college seminar.

This 22-year-old senior, who attends Tokyo Woman's Christian University, is planning to go on four graduation trips over the span of about a month, spending a total of around 300,000 yen.

She says she feels "now is the only time" since she has many friends she will not be able to see after graduation. The student adds that many of her friends are also planning to go on a number of trips with different people.

A Keio University senior plans to go on two graduation trips. The 23-year-old will travel around Europe for eight days at the end of February with 20 club members. In March, he will travel to Shikoku with three friends from the same club.

The student has already gone on a number of graduation trips after finding a job in April 2007. All of his friends had completed their job-hunting by mid-May. "We have time to spare once we've secured a position."

The trend became noticeable two or three years ago. The new grads are able to travel more because of early informal job appointments and because tour costs are declining, a spokesperson for Nippon Travel Agency says.

A popular choice is a sojourn to Europe followed by a shorter trip to Asia or around Japan.

Of students who go on graduation trips, about half take more than one trip and 10 to 20 percent make three or four trips, according to the JTB Corp.

Keiichi Tsujino, head of JTB's public relations department, says, "When job seekers faced tough times a few years ago, it took a lot longer for them to get job offers, leaving little time for graduation trips."

Studies by the labor ministry and others show that of students graduating from college this spring, about 82 percent had received informal job offers by Dec. 1, 2007, up 2 percentage points from the same period the previous year. The figure was about 74 percent in fiscal 2003.

In line with the improvement in the entry-level job situation, travel agencies are offering many student-friendly tours.

Kinki Nippon Tourist offers "repeat student discount" to students who take multiple journeys. Starting in January, when students sign up for their second or additional trips, the company will knock 1,000 yen off from the cost of a domestic tour and 2,000 yen off an overseas tour.

H.I.S. is also trying to appeal to students who travel in groups by taking up to 100,000 yen off, depending on the size of the group.(IHT/Asahi: March 8,2008)