Digital

Tripla, a Japan’s IT solution provider for accommodations, launched ‘Tripla Link,’ a booking management system linking with 28 OTAs in Asia, including Lion Travel and ez Travel of Taiwan or Traveloka of Indonesia.

The latest Euromonitor International survey finds that online sales of travel-related products in Japan amounted to record-high 4.7 trillion yen, surpassing 4.5 trillion yen in 2019.

Eight railway companies in Tokyo Metropolitan area will transfer the current magnetic ticket to QR-code ticket on the companies-cross system step by step after 2026.

International Tourism Trade Show 2024 was held in Tokyo Big Sight for three days from May 8th to 10th as a new BtoB tourism event, organizing the 2nd International Wellness Tourism EXPO and the first Tourism Marketing EXPO.

WiT Japan & North Aisa 2024 with a theme of ‘The Human Revolution’ on May 13 2024 particularly shared knowledge of how to use GenAI for travel.

Yamanashi Prefecture will introduce a pre-booking program to collect admission fees from climbers to Mt.Fuji on July 1 2024. The prefecture placed a gate in the Mt. Fuji fifth entrance station to collect admission fees this year.

Trip.com received more travel bookings from mainland China to Japan in the first quarter of 2024 than the same period of 2019, and bookings in local areas of Japan have increased.

Kintetsu Railway will sell digital tickets for the lines between Osaka Nanba or Kyoto and Nara to WeChat Pay users of China on WeChat mini program, working together with Linktivity.

The face recognition boarding process ‘Face Express’ on a passenger’s smartphone was tested at Narita Airport, linking the app with ANA and JAL apps.

GC Company, a South Korea’s unicorn OTA, has earnestly begun exploiting accommodation partners in Japan with a goal of annual transactions of about 110 billion yen for businesses in Japan by 2028.

Tripla, a Japan’s IT solution provider for accommodations, launches a multi-currency payment function on its booking engine ‘Tripla Book,' which is a direct booking function for accommodations.

ANA X, a ANA Group company, unveiled the TaaS (Travel as a Service) Platform concept for seamless travel on an smartphone app to expand an ANA economy zone by providing more opportunities to live or travel with accumulated miles.

Japanese ‘Digital Nomad’ visa rule was enforced from April 1 2024. Japan Expert Immigration Law Firm supports foreigners who are interested in staying in Japan for their jobs. What are reasons for them to choose Japan as a nomad destination?

Airbnb will contribute $1 million (about 153 million JPY) to a regional tourism exchange program between Japan and U.S, sending 15 to 20 tourism professionals from Japan to U.S.

ANA will begin serving complimentary in-flight internet access even to Business Class passengers on its international flights in this coming summer.

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.

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%.

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.

Ikyu, a Japanese OTA for high-end accommodation, opened an overseas hotel booking platform in tie-ups with Expedia Rapid API.

Ibaraki Prefecture and Hong Kong-based experience booking platform Klook signed MOU to work together for inbound travel promotions.