PacRim Marketing Group and PRTech have released their popular calendar of Asia, U.S. and Hawaii holidays. Now in its 28th year, the calendar is distributed to clients and partners and available to organizations interested in marketing to Asia. The 2019-20 calendar includes Japanese, Chinese, and Korean holidays to help businesses with marketing programs planned around Asia’s seasonality and national holidays. In addition, the calendar includes holidays in the US, Hawaii and Guam.
“An understanding of Asian holidays and their impact on destinations and global economies is crucial to increasing share and spend of the Asian International Traveler market,” said Dave Erdman, founder, president, and CEO of PacRim Marketing Group and PRTech. “Travel marketers can gain an edge by arming themselves with more information about these holidays so they can time campaigns strategically with pre-departure travel planning.”
To help clients with best practices in tourism marketing, PacRim has been tracking trends, holidays, and festivities in Asia since its founding in 1990. The calendar was originally printed in Japanese, but over the last 10 years has incorporated holidays in China, Korea, Taiwan, Hawaii, the U.S. and Guam. The dates of the holidays indicate increased outbound travel from Asia, which has proven to be a boon around the globe for host countries, destinations, and local economies.
For example, several Japanese holidays fall on consecutive days and are combined into what is known as “Golden and Silver Weeks.” These holidays fall in April/May and September respectively. Of particular note, Japan’s Golden Week will increase to 10 days in 2019 due to a recently designated May 1 holiday marking the day the new Emperor ascends the throne.
Seven legal festivals in China are recognized by its federal government each year; these festivals usually give workers 3 week days off. Many take advantage of this time to travel. Chinese festivals include New Year's Day, Chinese New Year (Spring Festival), Qingming Festival, May Day, Dragon Boat Festival, Mid-Autumn Festival and National Day.
Korea similarly celebrates Korean Lunar New Year and Harvest Festival – a time where offices are closed for a week.
Marketers increase their chances of capturing share and spend of the Asian traveler markets when they plan campaigns and promotions during these important holidays. Increasing tourism initiatives in China and Japan are even more reason to keep an eye on trends in Asia.
Click here to download your 2019-20 Asian Holiday Calendar.