Digital

Meta Tourism, a new tourism concept that oversees a variety of content layers for a particular place or a particular phenomenon, has started its activities in earnest, when it held a kick-off event for Sumida Meta Tourism Festival on August 24 2021.

Japan National Tourism Organization (JNTO) will organize ‘VISIT JAPAN Travel Mart 2021’ for the inbound travel market as a full online event from March 1 to 3 2022, joined by 70 overseas buyers and 70 domestic sellers.

Virtual ‘Japan Culture EXPO’ with a main theme of ‘Japanese people and nature’ opened on August 17 2021 to deliver Japan’s beauties in cooperation with museums and events in Japan.

JTB has raised 30 billion JPY in total through the third-party allotment to its main banks and others to develop a digital platform for improvement of customer journeys, more attractive tourism contents in local regions and a B to B digital platform.

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.

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, 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.

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 provide travel planning and sharing app 'Holiday' users with professional consultations on the platform, expecting to strengthen touch points with young generations.

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 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.

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.

'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.

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.

‘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 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.

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 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.

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 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.