Digital
The first Henn na Hotel in a foreign country opens in Seoul on August 1, offering a check-in service outside the hotel
HIS Holdings opened ‘Henn na Hotel Seoul Myeongdong,’ the first Henn na Hotel brand in a foreign country, on August 1 2021, available an exclusive app, a guest can check in anywhere outside the hotel.
Internet searches of ‘travel’ drastically decreased as of June 2021 in Japan, particularly among 50s or older
Values' survey shows that Internet searches of ‘travel’ halved as of June 2021, compared to June in both 2019 and 2020. Searches by 20s increased and accounted for 30% of the total, while those by 50s or older decreased.
KLOOK offers a driving lesson product for an inexperienced driver in Japan, expecting driving will become more popular amid COVID-19
KLOOK, an in-destination experience booking platform, sells a driving lesson product in Tokyo for an inexperienced drive , expecting to meet new needs from an inexperienced driver amid the pandemic.
JTB gives travelers easier booking of local activities on smart phone, linking to a hotel check-in app
Completing system linkage between JTB BOKUN, a local activity booking and payment platform, and aiPass, a smart check-in OS provided by CUICIN, JTB gives travelers easier booking of local activity on smart phone.
KNT-CT and NTA, major Japanese travel firms, provides professional consultations on the third-party travel planning app
KNT-CT and NTA provide travel planning and sharing app 'Holiday' users with professional consultations on the platform, expecting to strengthen touch points with young generations.
Japanese visitors to online retail shops were up 19% in Q1 of 2021, but the conversion rate was down 16%
According to Adobe report on digital economy trends in Japan market, Japanese visitors to online retail shops were up 19%, and a total of order amount was also up 15%. The conversion rate, however, was down 16%.
Kobe Tourism Bureau sells all-you-can-visit e-ticket for 46 tourist spots in the city
Kobe Tourism Bureau launched QR-based ‘KOBE Tourism Smart Passport,' which allows a traveler to visit all of up to 46 tourist spots in Kobe City including Kobe Port or Arima Onsen.
Tokyu Resorts & Stay places SmartPlate for a guest to get information on a smart phone instead of paper guidances
Membership hotels Tokyu Harvest Club places SmartPlates in guest rooms to enables a hotel to get hotel or neighboring information on its own smart phone through Harvest Smart Guide.
The first Japanese Tour Grand Prix 2021 in two years picks ‘Land Cruise JTB,’ seat-in-couch tour in Europe, as Tourism Minister Award
'Tour Grand Prix 2021,’ which was the 28th Grand Prix for the first time in two years, picked ‘Land Cruise JTB,’ a seat-in-couch tour product in Europe, as Minister of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism Award and four online tours were selected as digital category for overseas travel.
VR-based overseas travel experience service for a group is now on sale
Travel DX, a VR-based travel experience provider, sells 360-degree camera ‘VRTrip for a group,’ supposing companies, shopping malls or schools as potential customers.
Japan Tourism Agency’s manners eduction movies for foreign visitors win the international tourism & travel media award
‘The Responsible Traveler,’ a series of manners eduction movies produced by Dentsu Tech for Japan Tourism Agency, featuring humorous performances by five Samurai and Karate Masters, won Intermedia-globe Gold for 2021 World Media Festival.
ANA conducts a trial of IATA Travel Pass on its New York and Honolulu flights, expecting it will be a trump card for restart of international travel
ANA began testing IATA Travel Pass on the Haneda-New York and Haneda-Honolulu, joined by volunteer passengers, on May 24, expecting that the digital health accreditation app will be a trump card for restart of international travel.
Japanese experience booking service Vertra launches crowd funding to provide tourism operators with marketing opportunities
Vertra, a Japanese in-destination experience booking service, has launched tourism-specific crowd funding to provide tourism operators with marketing opportunities in preparation for demand growth after COVID-19.
ANA will launch a virtual travel platform in 2022 to offer avatar-based travel and shopping experiences
ANA will establish a new company ‘ANA NEO’ to develop and operate a virtual travel platform ‘SKY WHALE,' which consists of ‘Sky Park,’ ‘Sky Mall’ and Sky Village’ services, taking advantage of avatar robot ‘newme’ developed by ANA Group venture company avatatin.
Tourist destinations in Japan offer online contents for the future real travel during a week-long Golden Week holiday period
Many tourist destinations, including foreign tourism boards, have offered online travel contents you can feel like going out at home during a week-long Golden Week holiday period.
ANA and local ground transportations in Osaka offer a packaged ticket for ANA users
ANA and four ground transportation companies in Osaka offer a reasonable packaged ticket called ‘Osaka Aozora Kiipu’ for ANA flight users on ANA Airport Access Navi to receive a packaged transportation ticket at Itami Airport at once.
Haneda Airport demonstrates face recognition boarding in preparation for full operation in July
Haneda Airport has started demonstrating 'Face Express,' a face recognition boarding system, for international flight passengers in preparation for full operation in July this year. Face Express registration is completed in one minute or shorter.
JAL confirmed perfect validity of CommonPass for departure from Narita and arrival in Singapore
JAL and the Commons Project confirmed that a PCR test result on digital health passport ‘CommonPass’ was perfectly accepted at Narita Airport in departure and Singapore Changi Airport in arrival.
JTB builds a virtual space platform to offer a variety of tourism and e-commerce experiences in Japan with avatar operation
JTB will build ‘Virtual Japan Platform’ to offer a variety of Japan's experience contents on a virtual space including e-commerce, together with Fun Japan Communications and FIXER, having an initial goal of 10 million active users by 2024.
HIS opens unstaffed stores to provide shoppers in malls with online travel consultation
HIS will open unstaffed stores to provide online travel consultation in ‘Aeon Mall’ in Hokkaido and Aomori, using VR technology of Nurve.