Japan Bound

The number of international arrivals in Japan in June 2022 was 120,400 only, though the inbound travel market has partially reopened with the entry cap of 20,000 a day since June 1 2022.

Fliggy, a travel service platform of Alibaba Group, has tied up with Japanese OTA ‘AirTrip.' More than 20,000 lists on AirTrip will be provided to more than 300 million Fliggy members in China.

AndBeyondTokyo, a Tokyo-based tour operator, run helter-skelter to receive its first international customers after the partial reopening of leisure-purpose travelers from San Francisco. Too many hurdles are still on the road to Japan. What are CEO Kuroiwa worried about?

Japan Tourism Agency announced a guideline for tour operators, tour conductors and accommodations in accepting international package tours, requiring to register tour applicants to the Entrants, Returnees Follow-up System or ERFS.

The number of international arrivals in Japan in April 2022 reached 139,500, exceeding 100,000 a month for the first time since March 2021.

The Japanese government has decided that international visitors to Japan from designated low-risk countries and regions will be exempted from arrival test and quarantine on June 1, raising the entry ceiling from 10,000 entries a day today to 20,000 entries a day.

Japan Tourism Agency will develop a pilot program to restart receiving leisure-purpose inbound travel by the end of Mayto draw up a guideline for tour operators and accommodation providers.

Spending by international visitors in Japan amounted to 35.2 billion JPY for the first three months of 2022. Based on 100,566 visitors, spending a visitor was 350,225 JPY.

Japan National Tourism Organization (JNTO)'s survey finds that potential visitors to Japan are estimated at about 330 million out of the total population of 4.5 billion in 22 focus markets. About 40% of overseas travel experiences in Taiwan and Hong Kong have visited Japan four times or more.

Chineses viewers of the virtual tours connected to cross-border e-commerce on the Alibaba platform, which were broadcasted by Japan National Tourism Organization reached 1.35 million in total.

ANA X and ANA Business Jet, ANA Group companies, have joined ‘Travel concierge services for luxury travelers’ program to launch ‘nfinity,’ a travel concierge brand, which is engaged in development of unique and rich experiences.

The Tokyo Chamber of Commerce and Industry (TCCI) Tourism Committee compiled requests for tourism recovery in Japan, including effective operation of ‘Go To Travel’ and extension of the program.

This is the story that I, as Travel Voice reporter, experienced the first overseas coverage for Hawaii in the past two years and a half. I found that there were still a lot of challenges for outbound travel from Japan or inbound travel to Japan. Unreasonable procedures waited for me when I arrived in Japan.

Kouraku Japan, a marketing company for Chinese high-end consumers, broadcasted a virtual tourism tour combined with live e-commerce for Kagoshima Prefecture on Alibaba Group’s ‘Fliggy,’

Japanese prime minister Fumio Kishida officially announced that the current border restrictions will gradually be eased on March 1, adding that the most severe level among G7 nations will be maintained.

JNTO announced results of its research on how Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics affected foreign people’s willingness to visit Japan, and ‘higher value-added travel,’ ‘sustainable tourism’ and ‘adventure tourism’ as its promotional focuses.

How did foreign media in Japan see Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics in the last summer? Tokyo Convention & Visitors Bureau (TCVB) issued a summarized report.

The number of international arrivals in Japan in 2021 was 245,900, down 94% over 2020 (4,115,828) or down 99.2% over pre-COVID-19 2019 (31,882,049), according to JNTO.

According to JTB Tourism Research & Consulting survey, the ratios of people who have been motivated to visit Japan by Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics were 6% in China, 30.2% in U.K. and 26.7% in Australia.

JR EAST launched ‘JR TIMES,’ an travel information site exclusively for Taiwanese travelers for the future, offering a cross-border EC function to sell limited local products in Japan.