Tag: "DomesticTravel"

‘Tabi wa hitomakase (Travel depends on local people in English)' was launched in Shikoku, Japan. Local residents as ‘casts’ share local lives and experiences with travelers as ‘guests,’ which is expected to provide deeper connections with people with travelers.

JR Kyushu, a railway company covering Kyushu area, and SkyDrive, a ‘Flying Car’ developer, signed a comprehensive agreement with Oita Prefecture to launch sightseeing tours by ‘Flying Car’ in Beppu Bay in 2028.

Oriental Land, a Tokyo Disney Resort operator, signed a basic agreement with Nippon Yusen and Yusen Cruise for a joint cruise business based in Japan in 2028, making ‘Family Entertainment Cruise’ come true.

JR West, a railway company of Japan, has begun connecting online and ticketless booking services ‘Express Booking’ and ‘Smart EX’ with the route search on Apple Map.

Weather News announced that cherry blossom is expected to bloom nationwide earlier than usual. The earliest blooming is seen in Tokyo on March 21, and blooming will begin in Hakodate on April 22.

A new large-scale amusement park ‘JUNGLIA OKINAWA’ will open in the northern part of Okinawa Prefecture on July 25 2025, differentiating prices between residents in Japan and international visitors. Economic ripple effect is estimated at 6.8 trillion yen for 15 years.

JTB and Airbnb Japan have agreed to work together for reuse of abandoned houses to receive travelers in local regions, having a goal of developing the areas in 100 regions nationwide by 2028.

Kyoto City plans to raise accommodation tax from currently 200 to 1,000 yen a night to10,000 yen a night at most, The proposed new tax rule are divided into five categories.

AI-based travel planning service ‘Hako Tabi’ is available in Hakone, a famous onsen resort in Japan, developed by a University of Tokyo startup ‘EasyX’ and local Hakone DMO.

Kenji Hamamoto, Japan Tourism Agency (JTA) International Tourism Department Director, talked about over-tourism in Japan in the interview with Travel Voice. He emphasized that over-tourism is not 'tourism pollution.

JTB has forecasted that the number of Japanese travelers in 2025 is expected to increase by 2.9% year on year to 319 million in total, and International visitors to Japan are estimated at 402 million, 8.9% more visitors than 2024.

According to Mitsubishi Research Institute (MRI), the ratio of interests in Osaka Kansai EXPO 2025 remained at the same level, but the ratio of intension to visit the EXPO several times increased from 15% previously to 18.8%.

Kyoto City and DMO KYOTO opened a portal site ‘LINK! LINK! LINK!’ for Kyoto citizen as one of the efforts to increase public sympathy for tourism.

JR East will launch a corporate co-creation platform service in January 2025 that will link JR EAST digital pass Suica with digital services from various companies and other organizations to provide personalized services.

Japan Tourism Agency (JTA) has created new ‘Travel Etiquette’ and ‘Tourism Pictogram’ to raise awareness of tourist etiquette and recommended behavior.

JTB has forecasted that the number of Japanese travelers during this coming New Year holidays (December 23 2024 to January 3 2025) are expected to increase by 2% year on year to 28.5 million in total.

Canon Marketing Japan is sending stories about Japan Heritage certified by Agency for Cultural Affairs (ACA), posting short movies titled ‘Everyday Japan Heritage’ on ACA official SNS.

The survey about traveling with a dog in Japan shows 96.3% want to travel with their dogs, and 84.3% said that they want to travel with their dogs even though travel cost is higher.

According to Yahoo! search big data about onsen destinations in Japan, the highest growth rate in searches in comparison between August to October 2024 and a year ago was seen in Shirabu Onsen, Yamagata.

According to the Jalan Research Center's survey, 59.7% of people in residence areas and 63.4% of people in business areas realized that tourists are crowded or slightly crowded.