Japan Bound
Japan, China and South Korea agree to boost cultural exchanges with a goal to increase trilateral travelers to 40 million in total by 2030
Leaders of Japan, China and South Korea agreed to increase exchange of people among the tree nations to 40 million by 2030, designating ‘Culture Exchange Years’ for the next two years.
Visitors from Taiwan and Hong Kong to Japan are more interested in what Japanese people eat at home, paying attention to local supermarkets
More than 90% of visitors from Taiwan and Hong Kong want to buy foods as dinner in department stores or supermarkets in traveling in Japan.
A pre-booking program for Mt. Fuji will be launched in July 2024, giving climbers wristbands for qualification
Yamanashi Prefecture will introduce a pre-booking program to collect admission fees from climbers to Mt.Fuji on July 1 2024. The prefecture placed a gate in the Mt. Fuji fifth entrance station to collect admission fees this year.
Trip.com received more travel bookings from China to Japan in Q1 of 2024 than 2019, increasing travelers to local areas
Trip.com received more travel bookings from mainland China to Japan in the first quarter of 2024 than the same period of 2019, and bookings in local areas of Japan have increased.
International visitors to Japan exceeded 3 million in April 2024 for two months in a row, already reaching 10 million in total
The number of international visitors to Japan in April 2024 was up 4.0% to 3,042,900 compared to the same month of 2019. For the first four months of 2024. the total already reached 11.6 million visitors in total.
Foreigners’ guest nights in Japan were up 33% in March 2024 compared to pre-pandemic
The total number of guest nights in March 2024 (provisionally) was up 8.2% year on year to 54.9 million, which consisted of 42.2 million Japanese guests (up 1.3%) and 12.7 million foreigners' guests (up 33.4%).
A Japanese railway operator in Kansai area sells digital ticket on smartphone for WeChat Pay users of China
Kintetsu Railway will sell digital tickets for the lines between Osaka Nanba or Kyoto and Nara to WeChat Pay users of China on WeChat mini program, working together with Linktivity.
South Korea’s unicorn OTA earnestly sets out to exploit accommodation partners in Japan
GC Company, a South Korea’s unicorn OTA, has earnestly begun exploiting accommodation partners in Japan with a goal of annual transactions of about 110 billion yen for businesses in Japan by 2028.
Japan National Tourism Organization continues focusing on sending inbound travelers to local regions in FY2024
Japan National Tourism Organization (JNTO) continues focusing on sending inbound travelers to local regions in FY2024, developing large-scale campaign for 10 Asian source markets in partnership with OTAs.
What are the reasons for foreigners to apply for Japanese ‘Digital Nomad’ visa started on April 1 2024?
Japanese ‘Digital Nomad’ visa rule was enforced from April 1 2024. Japan Expert Immigration Law Firm supports foreigners who are interested in staying in Japan for their jobs. What are reasons for them to choose Japan as a nomad destination?
International visitors to Japan exceeded 3 million in March 2024, the record-breaking single month result in the history
The number of international visitors to Japan in March 2024 was up 11.6% to record-high 3,081,600 on a single month, boosted by cherry blossom and the Easter break.
47% of inbound travelers in Japan said that clean public toilets make them have better images of the areas
TOTO survey finds that 47.1% answered that clean public toilets make them have better images of the areas, and 88% want WASHLET with cleaning technology by hot water droplets in public toilets.
Guest nights in home-sharing in Japan for the first two months of 2024 were 30% more than a year ago
The number of guest nights in lawfully-registered home-sharing properties for the first two months of 2024 was up 27.7% to 239,333 compared to a year ago. Tokyo had the most 132,137 guest days.
JTB works together with Asahi Breweries to develop a nighttime rickshaw tour in Asakusa for inbound travelers
JTB, Asahi Breweries and Jidaiya, a rickshaw operator, worked together for a inbound travel program to tour cherry blossom spots in Asakusa by rickshaw. The program is to boost nighttime economy by inbound travelers.
Foreigners’ guest nights in Japan were up 23% in February 2024 compared to pre-pandemic
The total number of guest nights in February 2024 (provisionally) was up 17.0% year on year to 48.2 million. Guest nights by foreigner travelers were up 23.4% to 11.4 million compared to the same month of 2019.
A new service to research ancestors Japanese-descent foreigners is launched as a roots discovery travel
SekainoKakehasi, providing family story research service, launched a new service for Japanese-descent foreigners as roots tourism to visit the ancestor-related places.
Trip.com Group VP talks about what the OTA focuses on now, including outbound travel from China to Japan
Boon Sian Chai, Managing Director and Vice President International Markets at Trip.com, talked about the present and the future of Trip.com, including the outbound travel market from China to Japan.
Japanese government starts issuing 'digital nomad’ visa to foreigners with annual income of 10 million JPY or more in 50 countries or regions
Ministry of Justice of Japan has started issuing ‘digital nomad’ visa to a foreigner with annual income of 10 million JPY or more in about 50 visa waiver countries or regions
Cross-border mobile payment ‘Alipay+’ member stores in Japan exceed 2 million
The number of cross-border mobile payment ‘Alipay+’ member stores in Japan has exceeded 2 million. Payment amount with the affiliated e-wallets and bank app increased by 200%.
Tokyo Metro forms a capital and business alliance with BtoB e-ticket platform Linktivity to develop packaged ‘Tokyo City Pass’
Toyo Metro and Linktivity, a BtoB e-ticket platform, formed a capital and business alliance with a plan to develop ‘Tokyo City Pass (provisional name),’ which is packaged with tourist attraction tickets and subway tickets.
