News
Japan’s leading travel firm HIS signs an agreement with Atami City for inbound tourism promotion
HIS, a Japan’s leading travel firm, and Atami City, a popular onsen destination, signed an agreement on inbound travel promotion. The first effort is that HIS Taiwan will send its local staff to Atami.
Japanese Generation Z is aware of ‘time performance’ even in planning a travel, and 25% buy air tickets one week before departure
Japanese Generation Z are aware of ‘time performance’ to save time for effectiveness in planning a travel. 25% said that they have experiences to buy air tickets one week before departures.
Fourteen Japanese companies including Nissan Motor launch sustainable tourism tours in tie-ups with local communities, having a goal of 10 million users by 2033
Nissan Motor, Nippon Travel Agency (NTA), as founders, and other 12 Japanese companies launched ‘Green Journey Promotion Board.' The first ‘Green Journey’ tours are organized in Aso City, Kumamoto Prefecture and Shima City, Mie Prefecture.
Japanese outbound travelers exceeded 1 million in July 2024 for the first time in the last four months
The number of Japanese outbound travelers was down 36.8% to 1,048,800 in July 2024 compared to the same month 2019, slightly better than 38.8% down in June 2024.
International visitors to Japan reached record-high 3.29 million in July 2024 with the most Chinese travelers of 776,500, totaling 20 million and more this year
The number of international visitors to Japan in July 2024 reached record-high 3,292,500 on a single month basis, increasing by 10.1% compared to the same month of 2019, totaling record-high 21,069,900 for the first seven months of 2024.
Sado Island in Niigata makes efforts to attract more Workation by offering train and accommodation discounts for corporations
Sado City in Niigata Prefecture has been trying to attract more Workation visitors by using ‘JRE Workation Pass, which discounts Shinkansen to Niigata City and accommodation in Sado City for companies traveling from outside of Niigata.
43 Japanese major travel companies still struggled with a 27% decrease in sales in June 2024 over 2019
Sales of 43 major travel companies in June 2024 were up 2.7% year on year to 291.7 billion JPY, but the monthly result was down 26.6% compared to the same month of 2019. Sales in overseas travel were still down 37.3% compared to June 2019.
80% of Japanese people are proactive about getting loyalty points in daily shopping
According to the latest NTT Docomo survey, 80.1% of 15 to 79 years old Japanese people are proactive about getting loyalty points in daily shopping. 87.1% said that it is ideal for them to accumulate points without realizing and without any efforts.
Japanese travelers choose a booking hotel among 7.5 choices on the average, the least in the world
The latest Hotels.con survey finds that 81% of Japanese respondents like process of selecting and booking a hotel, and Japanese travelers choose a booking hotel among 7.5 choices on the average.
44% of Japanese LGBTQ+ travelers booked travel to a LGBTQ+-friendly destination in the last 12 months
According to the latest Booking.com survey on LGBTA+ travel in 27 countries and regions including Japan, 44% of Japanese LGBTQ+ travelers booked travel to a LGBTQ+-friendly destination in the last 12 months.
JAL offers original program of ‘Disney +’ as an inflight entertainment for both domestic and international flights
JAL has started offering original programs of ‘Disney +’ as an inflight entertainment. The new service has been available on all international flights since July and on all domestic flights since August.
Japanese solo travelers have doubled in five years, according to a Euromonitor survey to 39 countries
Euromonitor survey finds that Japan has the highest percentage of people who performed ‘solo travel.’ The percentage of people who answered "I often travel alone" in Japan was 19.2%, much higher than 7.2% globally.
LINE Yahoo search trend shows Japanese solo travelers are interested in South Korea or Bangkok in this summer
Yahoo Data Solution revealed that the peak period of travel in this summer is July as a whole, while the peak period of solo travel is August. The top of the related keywords search is ‘solo travel, girls, recommendation.'
Japan Association of Travel Agents addresses recovery of traveling to Europe in earnest through a joint promotion with Europe Travel Commission
Japan Association of Travel Agents (JATA) Japan Outbound Tourism Council (JOTC) is building a joint promotion framework with Europe Travel Commission (ETC) to address recovery of traveling to Europe, including a variety of promotions in coming Tourism EXPO Japan.
Japanese tourism firms talk about how they use generative AI at a Google’s annual conference
JR EAST, Hoshino Resorts and LINE Yahoo talked about how they use generative AI at an annual conference ‘Google Cloud Next Tokyo ’24.' Tomoyuki Hirate, Google Cloud President Japan, said “AI is definitely shifting from the trial stage to the usage stage in the business world.”
A Japanese railway operator starts a pilot program to support international visitors, using generative AI by Google Gemini
JR East a Japanese railway operator., has started a pilot program ‘JR EAST Travel Concierge,’ to support travel planning for international visitors, using Google’s generative AI ‘Gemini’ and Google Cloud.
Foreigners’ guest nights increased in other local destinations than Golden Route in Japan, according to the May 2024 statistics
Foreigners’ guest nights in three major urban areas and in local areas was up 59.0% and 5.9% to 9.76 million guest nights and to 3.81 million guest nights respectively. The largest growth in comparison with May 2019 was seen in Ishikawa with 148.6% up.
EY Japan issues an insight report on over-tourism in Japan, introducing three major countermeasures
EY Strategy and Consulting (EY Japan) has issued an insight report on over-tourism in Japan to introduce countermeasures taken in foreign countries and to reveal results of the survey on over-tourism.
Japanese start-up Payn, automatic cancellation fee collection system provider, sends a digital gift to a customer who cancels a hotel or a restaurant
Payn, an automatic cancellation fee collection system provider, has tied up with giftee, an e-gift platform, to send a digital gift to a customer who cancels a hotel or a restaurant.
ANA and JTB launch a luxury travel business, offering a private jet tour from Okinawa to Hokkaido as its first product
ANA and JTB jointly develop a two-days tour traveling from Miyako, a remote island in Okinawa, to Memanbetsu in Hokkaido with a private jet ‘Falcon 2000 LXS’, targeting luxury travelers.
