News
Total sales of 43 Japanese major travel companies in October 2023 decreased by 23% over 2019
Sales of 43 major travel companies in October 2023 were down 22.9% to 347 billion JPY compared to the same month of 2019. As sales of both domestic and overseas package tours were largely down, a trend to shift from group travel to FIT seemed to be strong.
ANA launches a new virtual trip app, eyeing creation of a community and services for daily life as an entrance to an ANA economic zone
ANA NEO, an ANA Group company for digital solution, has launched a virtual trip platform app ‘ANA GranWhale,’ where a user as an avatar can enjoy virtual travel space ‘V-TRIP’ and a virtual shopping space ‘Sky Mall.’
40% of Japanese people are willing to travel overseas within a year, but they are concerned about exchange rate and security
The ratio of respondents who plan to travel overseas within a year was 40%, higher than 28% in the previous survey a year ago, according to the Sony Bank survey. The top concern was ‘exchange rate’ at 72%.
Ministry of Foreign Affairs of China reveals visa wavier has given a big impact to the inbound travel market, increasing foreign visitors by 39% in December
Ministry of Foreign Affairs of China said that visa wavier for 6 countries has been working well, for the first three days, about 7,000 out of all travelers of about 18,000 from those countries entered China without visas.
A Japanese e-ticket management system provider partners Sapporo City to promote business jet tours at Okadama Airport
Japanticket, an e-ticket management system provider, and Sapporo City signed a partnership agreement on promotion of business jet operation at Okadama Airport. Japanticket has performed several trial gastronomy tours using made-in-Japan HondaJet.
Hankyu a major Japanese travel agent, and NAVITIME JAPAN work together to develop tours for inbound luxury travelers
Hankyu Travel International, a major travel company of Japan, and NAVITIME JAPAN, a navigation app provider, will jointly develop tours for luxury inbound travelers.
A major Japanese data company opens a capsule hotel specializing in sleep analysis as ‘sleep tech’
NTT Data, a major Japanese data company, will open a capsule hotel specializing in sleep analysis, acquiring, accumulating and analyzing sleep data using infrared cameras, sound-collecting microphones, and body movement sensors.
Amazon launches ‘Alexa’ for hotels as part of its first BtoB services, making bulk installation in a property possible
Amazon Japan (Amazon) has begun offering ‘Alexa Smart Properties (ASP)’ as a service for businesses using the personal AI assistant Alexa. Tokyu Hotels & Resorts will introduce Echo Show 8 to 56 premium class rooms at the lifestyle hotel "SAPPORO STREAM HOTEL" that will open in Sapporo on January 16 2024.
JTB forecasts total number of Japanese travelers during this coming New Year holidays will almost recover with record-high average domestic travel expenses
JTB forecasted the total number of Japanese travelers would be up 5% year on year or down 5% over 2019 to 28.6 million during this coming New Year holiday period. Domestic travelers are estimated at 28 million, and Japanese outbound travelers at 580,000.
Japan National Tourism Organization launches a special website for Osaka Kansai EXPO, encouraging inbound travelers to visit local areas
Japan National Tourism Organization (JNTO) launched a special website for the Osaka Kansai Expo, expecting the Expo is an opportunity to encourage inbound tourists to visit regional areas.
Airbnb Japan introduces its first new functions exclusively forJapan, reflecting the current trends of increases in group guests and stays in local areas
Airbnb Japan has introduced new specific functions for Japan in line with the recent trends in the Japanese market, saying that guests choose locations other than famous tourist spots and prefer to group travel.
‘U.S.-Japan Tourism Year 2024’ is launched to strengthen tourism and business exchanges between the two countries
Japan and U.S. signed a memorandum of cooperation designating 2024 as the ‘U.S.-Japan Tourism Year’ to strengthen tourism and business exchanges between U.S. and Japan, hoping to return Japan to the number two spot in terms of number of visitors to U.S.
How should the Japan’s outbound market be boosted? 23 million Japanese people intend to travel abroad
‘Symposium on Japanese outbound travel promotion’ at Tourism EXPO 2023 in Osaka focused on how the outbound travel market should be boosted, introducing market analyses by Spain, Malaysia and Thailand.
30% of Japanese people say that they want to travel abroad in the New Year holidays if they do not consider cost
According to an Expedia survey, about 30% of Japanese respondents answered that if they were able to travel without considering the cost, they would "like to travel abroad” in the period.
A tour to stay in a mountain cabin at the 5th station of Mt. Fuji in the winter is available at 79,200 JPY a person
Sato-koya, a mountain cabin located in the 5th station of Mt.Fuji, will begin providing a tour to stay in the winter. The price is 79,200 JPY a night a person, including a variety of activities and a guide tour.
Expedia Japan says the most bookings for Japan are seen in U.S., and as a whole Shinjyuku is particularly preferred as an area to stay
According to Expedia Japan, the most bookings for Japan are seen in U.S. for Q3 of 2023, followed by Australia, Singapore, U.K. Shinjyuku was the top area to stay in eight out of 10 countries and regions.
A Japanese traveler spent 12% more money for domestic travel in Q3 of 2023 than 2019
the total amount of Japanese travel consumption was up 15.7% year on year to 6.3 trillion JPY in the 3rd quarter of 2023 (July to September 2023). Travel spending a travel per traveler was up 3.3% year on year to 44,361 JPY.
Price hike and breakfast menus largely influence satisfaction to stay in hotels in Japan
Guest satisfaction rates in Japan were down 30 points for mid-scale hotels and 19 points for economy hotels in 2023 compared to the previous survey, mainly affected by price hikes. Top up-scale hotel is Hilton.
JTB posted the first half-year operating income in the past four years, increasing all travel business segments
JTB achieved the first half-year operating income in the past four years for the first half of FY2023 due to recovery of all travel business, posting 8.7 billion JPY, improving from operating loss of 4.7 billion JPY a year ago because of well-recovery of the travel business.
Total sales of 43 Japanese major travel companies in September 2023 decreased by 27% over 2019
Sales of 43 major travel companies in September 2023 were down 26.9% to 316 billion JPY compared to the same month of 2019. The top was JTB Group with sales of 110 billion JPY (down 23%), followed by NTA with 34 billion JPY (down 16.7%).
