News

Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism has launched the ‘Pokémon GO’ program in Odawara City to help visitors discover local history by virtually placing poke stops on the game.

The number of Japanese overseas travelers were 50,800 in October 2021, about 20,000 more travelers than a year ago, but 96.9% fewer travelers than two years ago.

The number of international visitors to Japan in October 2021 was 22,100 only even though the Japanese government has eased entry restrictions for vaccinated international visitors since October.

Airbnb Japan signed a partnership agreement with Iida City and local DMO South Shinshu Tourism in Nagano Prefecture to explore farm stay in south Nagano area for local revitalization.

57.6% of surveyed companies hope that domestic travel boosting ‘Go To Travel’ program will be restarted within FY2021, and the ratio was 76% among lodging, dining and entertainment service industries.

JAL has started accepting vaccination record registration in addition to PCR test result on digital health certificate app ‘VeriFly’ for its flights from Japan to U.S.

Six Sense Kyoto will open in the spring of 2024. The Intercontinental Hotel Group (IHG)’s luxury hotel brand will be the first appearance in Japan.

ZIPAIR Tokyo, a JAL Group LCC, will launch three flights a week service between Narita and Los Angeles at the lowest airfare of 27,500 JPY on December 25 2021. It will be the first LCC serving transpacific flight.

Hybrid ‘Tourism EXPO Japan 2022’ will be organized in Tokyo Big Sight for four days from September 22 to 25 next year. This will be the first event in Tokyo in the past four years.

The total number of guest nights in September 2021 was down 20.5% year on year to 22.7 million, and the occupation rate was 31.3%, worse than the results in July and August.

The latest Jalan Research Center's survey shows that majority is people who intend to travel, but still wait and see, even though vaccination has been extending nationwide.

Sekisui House and Marriott International will accelerate ‘Trip Base Roadside Hotel Project,’ opening 14 hotels in eight prefectures (1184 rooms in total) after the next spring.

JAL Group has forecasted net loss of 146 billion JPY for the full year of FY2021, resulting in deficit for two yeas in a row. It said that longer time will be needed for full recovery of international passenger demand.

The Japanese government has shortened the quarantine days for vaccinated business persons to three days and restarted accepting new international students and technical trainees since November 8 2021.

Tokyo Metro and Bureau of Transportation Tokyo Metropolitan Government started selling all-you-can-ride ‘Tokyo Subway Ticket’ and a package with Tokyo Tower and Tokyo Sky Tree admissions even for residents in the Tokyo Metropolitan area.

The occupation rate of 100 hotels in Kyoto City is expected to recover to 52.6% in November this year from 27% in September due to higher domestic travel demand after declaration of a state of emergency was lifted.

Mt.Fuji Area Tourism DX Innovation Consortium including Panasonic begins demonstration tests for ‘free-hand tourism’ in the area by using face recognition digital pass for payments and entries in Fuji Kyuko railway and tourism facilities.

ANA Holdings has revised downward its FY2021 (April 2021 to March 2022) financial forecast to net loss of 100 billion JPY from originally expected net profit of 3.5 billion JPY.

Japan National Tourism Organization (JNTO) is addressing sustainable tourism in Japan more seriously from standpoints of protecting and cultivating ‘environment,’ ‘culture’ and ‘economy’ in local communities, particularly focusing on the European market.

The most used information-gathering tool by Japanese GenZ was SNS (69.8%) in 2021, replacing TV (40.8%) in 2014, and users of mail apps reduced from 64.7% to 42.6%, while users of music and video apps remarkably increased from 39.8% to 70.6%.