Japan Domestic Travel
A major Japanese heavy industry enters the tourism business with premium travel by business jet and helicopter
Z-Leg, a helicopter arrangement service provider of the Kawasaki Heavy Industries Group, will provide a premium travel program using a business jet and a helicopter.
TikTok Go launches a project to promote local appeals in Japan, firstly in Kyoto City and Otsu City
TikTok launched ‘TikTok Go Local,’ a project to promote local appeals in Japan using ‘TikTok Go.' The first project will be developed in Kyoto City and Otsu City.
Multimodal booking platform ‘Omio’ is accelerating its business in Japan and Southeast Asia
‘Omio’ announced a $10m strategic investment from Granite-Integral to accelerate its expansion in Japan and strengthen its presence across Southeast Asia.
Searches of summer retreat destinations sharply increase among Japanese travelers to avoid unusual heat
Searches of summer retreat destinations in Japan for the latter half of the summer in 2026 have been increasing among Japanese Agoda users.
60% of luxury cruise passengers participate in local tours at ports of call, with high-priced tours being preferred among inbound travelers
The average participation rate for optional tours at ports of call in Japan was 60% for "luxury and expedition ships-class" ships, exceeding the 20% rate of "causal and premium ships -class" ships.
High-end private compartment class on Tokaido Shinkansen was unveiled before offered on October 1 2026
JR Tokai unveiled ‘Supreme Class,’ an upper class beyond the current ‘Green Class,’ which will be available on Tokaido and Sanyo Shinkansen between Tokyo and Hakata.
Japan Association of Travel Agents is rebuilding two-way tourism under new leadership, aiming at 20 million or more Japanese outbound travelers
Japan Association of Travel Agents (JATA) launched its new executive team in June 2026. They are rebuilding two-way tourism with a goal of 20 million or more Japanese outbound travelers.
Visitors to 10 Hakuba Valley ski resorts reached 1.9 million in the 2025-2026 winter season, out of which 48% were foreigners
The total number of visitors to 10 ski resorts in the Hakuba area in the 2025-2026 winter season were up 3% year on year to record-high 1,925,000 in the last decade.
Real Pokémon GO event in Tokyo gathered 1.71 million participants, encouraging them to walk in unknown Tokyo
‘Pokémon GO Fest Tokyo’ was held in the Tokyo Bay Area for four days. Including ‘In-Town Game Play’ over entire Tokyo (except islands), a pre-event from May 25, the total number of participants reached about 1.71 million.
Domestic travel consumption by Japanese travelers was up 5% in Q1 of 2026
The total amount of domestic travel consumption by Japanese travelers for the first three months of 2026 was up 4.8% year on year to 5.9 trillion yen.
Banyan Tree Higashiyama Kyoto sells four sorts of local experience packages at 626,000 yen for two nights for two guests
Banyan Tree Higashiyama Kyoto has recently launched four experiential accommodation packages designed to allow guests to experience the charms of Kyoto.
JR West, a railway company of Japan, will link with the booking systems of ANA and JAL to promote wide-area travel by railway and air
JR West signed a partnership agreement with ANA and JAL each to jointly develop wide-area travel service combined by railway and air to build a seamless booking system of railway and air to raise experience values of users.
Travel consumption in Japan totaled 37.6 trillion yen in 2025, including 9.5 trillion trillion yen by international visitors to Japan
The total amount of travel consumption in Japan reached 37.6 trillion yen in 2025, 9.6% more than 34.4 trillion yen in 2024, including 1.4 trillion yen in international travel by Japanese travelers (a share of 3.7%).
JAL, JTB and JR East work together for a new tourism model for wide-area tours, combining air and rail
JAL, JTB and JR East are working together for a ‘multi-layered tourism’ initiative in the eastern Japan area, combining multiple modes of transportation, such as rail and air travel.
What are key points of five-years ‘Tourism Nation Promotion Basic Plan’? A goal of 40 million international repeaters is included
The Japanese government accepted five-years ‘Tourism Nation Promotion Basic Plan’ from FY2026 to FY2030. What are key points of the plan?
UNESCO World Heritage Shirakawago in Japan will introduce a pre-reservation system for the bus parking in December 2026
Shirakawa Village in Gifu Prefecture will introduce a pre-reservation system targeting tour buses for the major gateway bus parking to World Heritage ‘Shirakawago.'
Accommodations in Japan increased International guests by 8% but decreased Japanese guests by 4% in 2025
The total of guests in accommodations in 2025 was down 0.8% to 653 million, and the average occupancy rate was up 2.2 points to 61.8%.
Cherry blossom is expected to begin blooming in Tokyo on March 22 and in Hokkaido on April 24
Cherry blossom is expected to bloom as usual in western Japan and in eastern Japan and as usual or very earlier than usual in northern Japan. Booming is forecasted to begin in Tokyo on March 22.
Japanese domestic travel consumption was up 6% to 27 trillion yen in 2025 despite a reduction in Q4
The total amount of Japanese domestic travel consumption was up 6% year on year to 26.8 trillion yen in 2025. Travel spending a travel per traveler was up 3.8% to 48,359 yen.
JTB and Mitsubishi Electric work together to promote autonomous driving services in a tourist destination from dispatch to operation
JTB and Mitsubishi Electric work together to promote autonomous driving services in order to solve shortage of workforces and to activate local economy in a tourist destination.
