Society

Household spending suffers record drop

Jun 06 (NHK) - Japan's household spending suffered a record drop in April, as families spent more time at home due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The internal affairs ministry says average spending by households of two or more people stood at nearly 268,000 yen, or about 2,450 dollars.

That's a plunge of 11.1 percent in real terms from last year. It's also the largest drop since comparable data became available in 2001.

Tourism took a heavy hit, with spending on package tours tumbling 97.1 percent.

The figure for hotels and accommodation was down 94.7 percent.

The amount people spent on dining out dropped 63.3 percent, while clothing and footwear fell 55.4 percent.

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