Japan Bound
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.
International visitors to Japan were record-high 2.8 million for February
The number of international visitors to Japan in February 2024 was up 7.1% to 2,788,000 compared to the same month of 2019, which were record-high on a single month basis after the pandemic.
Ibaraki Prefecture in Japan makes a partnership with experience booking platform Klook to invite more inbound tourists
Ibaraki Prefecture and Hong Kong-based experience booking platform Klook signed MOU to work together for inbound travel promotions.
Activity booking system ‘JTB BÓKUN’ completes API integration with a food experience booking platform for inbound travelers to Japan
‘JTB BÓKUN,’ an activity booking management system,’ has completed API integration with ‘byFood.com' for inbound travelers to Japan, enabling food tour providers on byFood.com to make their operations more effective.
Airport Limousine of Japan begins selling e-tickets on 400 foreign-based OTAs through e-ticket booking platform Linktivity
Airport Limousine has started selling e-tickets on about 400 foreign-based OTAs trough API connections with sales channels on e-ticket booking platform Linktivity.
JTB develops new tour routes in Hokkaido and Tohoku for inbound travelers, incorporating adventure travel contents
JTB Global Marketing & Travel has deveped two new tour routes of ‘Hokkaido AdveNature Route’ and ‘Northern Japan Discovery Route’ in Tohoku in SUNRISE TOURS for inbound travelers.
Japanese navigation app NAVITIME links to Uber taxi app for inbound travelers
NAVITIME Japan has launched linkage of ‘Japan Travel NAVITIME,’ a navigation app for inbound travelers, with Uber taxi app. A taxi can be dispatched without re-inputting riding location and a destination.
Port calls of foreign-based cruise ships in Japan in 2023 recovered to 63% of the peak in 2017
The number of inbound cruise travelers was 356,000 in 2023, which was 14% of the peak in 2017. The total number of cruise part calls in Japan increased by 2.5 times year on year to 1,854, which recovered to 63% of the peak in 2018.
Cherry blossoms blooming is forecasted on March 18 in Tokyo first, and full blooming is expected to be earlier nationwide
This year's cherry blossom season is expected to start blooming first in Tokyo on March 18, according to Weathernews. Full blooming will be earlier than usual nationwide.
Expedia CEO said the OTA giant is strengthening investment to Japan, developing a new marketing campaign
Peter Kern, Vice Chairman and CEO Expedia Group visited Japan, celebrating the18th anniversary of staring its service in Japan. Expedia is developing a new campaign exclusively for Japan, renaming its global branding message ‘Made to Travel’ to ‘Itsumo no Soto.'
Three prefectures in Hokuriku will start receiving bookings for financial aid package on March 8 2024, encouraging leisure travel in the earthquake-hit regions
Niigata, Toyama and Fukui Prefectures have decided to receive bookings for financial aid package on March 8 2024. The package will be applicable to travel from March 16 to April 26.
International visitors to Japan from 10 source markets reached record-high for January
The number of international visitors to Japan in January 2024 was 2,688,1000, almost the same number as January 2019. Visitors from 10 source markets reached record-high for January.
A community website for Asian travelers to Japan launches a new SNS with a simultaneous translation function
‘FUN! JAPAN,' a community website for Asian travelers to Japan, launched a new SNS, which is a service for community members to enjoy conversations with simultaneous translation.
Foreigners’ guest nights in Japan were up 32% in December 2023 compared to pre-pandemic
The total number of guest nights in December 2023 (provisionally) was up 9.4% year on year to 51.5 million, which were also up 9.3% compared to the same month of 2019. Foreigner travelers were up 32.3% to 12.1 million.
EXPO 2025 Osaka Kansai is expected to generate 891.3 billion JPY in spending by visitors
Asia-Pacific Institute of Research (APIR) estimated spending by visitors to EXPO 2025 Osaka Kansai at 891.3 billion JPY in a basic case, which of 224 billion JPY for transportation, 173.5 billion JPY for accommodation, 161.9 billion JPY for drinking and eating, 186.7 billion JPY for shopping and 145 billion JPY for entertainment.
