News

For locked Olympic and Paralympic athletes, a website operator for inbound travelers serves online tours in cooperation with about 150 interpreter tour guides nationwide.

the number of Japanese guest nights was still down 50.1% 21 million in May 2021 compared to March 2019, and the average occupancy rate was 27%, worse than 31.7% in April due to the third declaration of a state of emergency.

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.

According to Adobe report on digital economy trends in Japan market, Japanese visitors to online retail shops were up 19%, and a total of order amount was also up 15%. The conversion rate, however, was down 16%.

Hakuhodo survey finds half of respondents selected online shopping for goods of less than 10,000 JPY, while more than 60% said real shopping is better for goods of 30,000 JPY or higher.

Kobe Tourism Bureau launched QR-based ‘KOBE Tourism Smart Passport,' which allows a traveler to visit all of up to 46 tourist spots in Kobe City including Kobe Port or Arima Onsen.

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.

Chief Cabinet Secretary revealed that paper vaccination passports will be issued in late July by local governments after the vaccination rule is amended.

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.

WILLER has just begun selling AI-based sharing mobility service ‘mobi’ in Kyotango City, Kyoto Prefecture and Shibuya Ward, Tokyo, as a subscription service at 5,000 JPY a month.

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.