Japan Bound

Japan National Tourism Organization (JNTO) Dubai Office Executive Officer, Daisuke Kobayashi, talked how important the Middle East is for Japan to exploit a new luxury travel market. He said, "Middle East is the last blue ocean for Japan."

Local experience booking platform ‘Klook’ has started offering ‘Stay +,’ a package combing accommodation booking with in-destination products such as such as airport railway tickets or theme-park admission tickets.

The number of international visitors in Japan in August 2023 was 2,156,900, recovering to a 14.4% reduction compared to the same month 2019. China lifted the group travel restriction to Japan on August 10 2023, but the effect was limited in August.

Adventure Travel World Summit 2023 (ATWS 2023) opened in Sapporo, Hokkaido on September 11 for the first time in Asia. Shannon Stowel, ATTA CEO, said that Hokkaido has high-quality nature, culture and activity assets for adventure travel, and also they are very diversified.

Narita International Airport international flight passengers reached 2.25 million in July 2023, exceeding 2 million for two months in a row. Foreigner passengers were up 6.8 times year on year to 1.44 million.

Alibaba Japan launches a medical tourism service in Japan for Chinese travelers on the Alibaba Group cross-border EC platform ‘Tmall Global, on which Japanese medical companies or organizations open their official shops.

JTB and trip.com have agreed to lunch a new joint venture to solve challenges of hospitality operators and local governments in the inbound travel market from Asia to Japan.

Japanticket, e-ticket solution provider for inbound travelers to Japan, is developing several trials of ‘Premium Gastronomy Tour’ using HONDA Motor-made business jet ‘HondaJet’ for high-value inbound travelers to Japan. Where did ‘Premium gastronomy tours’ idea come from?

The number of international arrivals in Japan in July 2023 was down 22.4% to 2,320,600 compared to the same month 2019. The total for the first seven months reached 13,032,900.

Rikkyo University, Hinomaru bus operator and Sky Hop Bus Marketing Japan has started selling ‘Neo Tokyo Tour,’ a nighttime sightseeing bus tour. The idea was created by Rikkyo University Tourism Department students in the fieldwork class.

the occupancy rate of 111 hotels in Kyoto City in June 2023 was down 4.3 points over May 2023 or up 22.2 points over June 2022 to 76.5%. The ratio of international guests was 51.2% of the total.

Mizuho, a mega bank of Japan, Mizuho China and Trip.com signed a strategic partnership agreement to address rise in quality in tourism industries of China and Japan from a long-term perspective.

Rieko Nakayama, Executive Vice President at Japan National Tourism Organization (JNTO), explained the current inbound travel market situation and JNTO's Inbound Marketing Strategy.

The number of international visitors in Japan in June 2023 was 2,073,300, the first more than 2 million a month since the pandemic happened. The largest source market was still South Korea with 545.100 visitors

Combination of the Airporter’s baggage delivery system with an airline’s online check-in system allows a traveler to deliver baggage from a hotel and to pick it up at an arrival airport in a foreign country.

Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries of Japan (MAFF) launched ‘Farm Stay Promotion Plan’ with a goal of 7 million guest nights by 2025.

the total number of guest nights in May 2023 (provisionally) was up 36.2% year on year to 50.1 million. International guest nights recovered to a 7.8% reduction to 9 million compared to May 2019.

NAVITIME Japan and Klook partner in service linkages on ‘Japan Travel by NAVITIME’ for inbound travelers to Japan and ‘NAVITIME Transit’ for transit route search.

‘Tourism EXPO Japan 2023 Osaka Kansai’ will be held in Intex Osaka for four days from October 26 to 29. A main event theme is ‘Travel festival to meet the future,’ showcasing the future vision of the diversified tourism industry.

Japan National Tourism Organization drew up a three-years marketing strategy for inbound travel by 2025 to achieve the government’s goals, focusing on ‘strategy by market,’ ‘cross-market strategy’ and ‘MICR strategy.'