Travel Sectors

ZIP AIR Tokyo, a JAL subsidiary LCC, restarted a Narita-Honolulu flight a week and will increase the frequency to two flights a week in October, and also will launch Narita-Singapore service in September.

Tourism EXPO Japan 2021 in Osaka will be postponed to autumn 2023 due to the uncertain situation, though it is scheduled to be take place from November 25 to 28 this year.

Completing system linkage between JTB BOKUN, a local activity booking and payment platform, and aiPass, a smart check-in OS provided by CUICIN, JTB gives travelers easier booking of local activity on smart phone.

KNT-CT and NTA provide travel planning and sharing app 'Holiday' users with professional consultations on the platform, expecting to strengthen touch points with young generations.

Sales of 46 major travel companies increased by 284.1% year on year to 41.5 billion JPY in total in May 2021, but the result was still 90.2% lower than May 2019. Sales in domestic travel were down 84.9% over two years ago.

Japan Association of Travel Agents (JATA) is asking the government to draw up a roadmap for restart of outbound travels, expecting that the outbound travel market will partially restore in the fourth quarter of FY2021.

JAL is developing its LCC strategy in earnest, establishing LCC networks based in Narita Airport with a consolidated subsidiary SPRING JAPN, additionally investing Jetstar Japan and a 100% subsidiary ZIP AIR.

Membership hotels Tokyu Harvest Club places SmartPlates in guest rooms to enables a hotel to get hotel or neighboring information on its own smart phone through Harvest Smart Guide.

The number of COVID-19 cases was just 30 out of 710,000 participants in total performed by JTB, NTA, KNT and Tobu Top Tours in the period between March and December 2020.

Club Tourism has started a campaign for domestic tours at 2,500 JPY or higher a person departing from August 1 to December 20 2021. targeting 65 years old or older travelers, as vaccination to aged persons is accelerating.

Japan National Tourism Organization (JNTO) announced ‘Policies for sustainable tourism and contributions to SDGs, focusing on preservation and development of ‘environment,’ ‘culture’ and ‘economy’ in local communities.

'Tour Grand Prix 2021,’ which was the 28th Grand Prix for the first time in two years, picked ‘Land Cruise JTB,’ a seat-in-couch tour product in Europe, as Minister of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism Award and four online tours were selected as digital category for overseas travel.

Japanese travel agents are still struggling with the pandemic, as sales of 46 major travel companies increased by 255.2 % year on year to 62.4 billion JPY in total in April 2021, but the result was still 85.2% lower than April 2019.

More than 90% of Japanese tour operators for international visitors cut jobs, and 40% have cut more than half of jobs in the pandemic, which will possibly be a big hurdle to catch a recovery wave, Japan Inbound Media Consortium (JIMC)'s survey says.

Tourism White Paper 2021 reports guest nights for ‘Go To Travel’ domestic travel boosting campaign for six months and changes of travel trends in Japan, and also clarifies the current challenges and required solutions for the tourism industry.

Posting 23.2 billion JPY in net loss for first six months of FY2021, HIS aims to lower the sales ratio of core travel business from 70% currently to around 50% in the next five years, focusing on restaurant business and ryokan rehabilitation business as a new business portfolios.

Haneda Airport will begin serving an automatic driving mobility from a parking space to a departure gate, using the WHILL single-passenger vehicle, which can be retuned to a parking space automatically without manned operation.

JTB launches a new business to support companies or schools for workplace COVID-19 vaccination, serving selection of a venue, dispatch of doctors or nurses, schedule management and layout arrangement in a venue.

The tourism industry is far behind other industries in terms of the number of companies taking measures for SDGs. The ratio is 20.3%, according to the joint survey by Rikkyo University and JTB Tourism Research & Consulting. Major challenges are shortage of human resources, times and budgets.

ANA and Peach Aviation, an ANA subsidiary LCC, will begin code-shared flights on Paech’s operating domestic Narita and Chubu (Nagoya) routes in late August 2021.