News

JR Kyushu, a railway company covering Kyushu area, will operate ‘Share Office Shinkansen’ from June 14 and 30 this year except weekend, preparing the designated car without reserved-seats.

‘The Responsible Traveler,’ a series of manners eduction movies produced by Dentsu Tech for Japan Tourism Agency, featuring humorous performances by five Samurai and Karate Masters, won Intermedia-globe Gold for 2021 World Media Festival.

Nine out of the top 10 receiving the subsides for employment adjustment are an airline and tourism-related companies. Top is ANA with 43.7 billion JPY, followed by Oriental Land operating Tokyo Disneyland.

ANA began testing IATA Travel Pass on the Haneda-New York and Haneda-Honolulu, joined by volunteer passengers, on May 24, expecting that the digital health accreditation app will be a trump card for restart of international travel.

JTB posted the record-high net loss of 105.2 billion JPY for FY2020, deadly hit by the pandemic, but it has expected to move back into the black for FY2021, anticipating recovery of travel demands and acceleration of the cost cut efforts.

Heisei Enterprise, a Japanese sightseeing bus operator, will launch a campaign to pay 1,000 JPY back to a completely vaccinated traveler.

Ten Marriott group hotels in Japan, including The Ritz-Carlton Tokyo or W Osaka, have begun selling ‘to-go’ menus of their restaurants.

Vertra, a Japanese in-destination experience booking service, has launched tourism-specific crowd funding to provide tourism operators with marketing opportunities in preparation for demand growth after COVID-19.

ANA will establish a new company ‘ANA NEO’ to develop and operate a virtual travel platform ‘SKY WHALE,' which consists of ‘Sky Park,’ ‘Sky Mall’ and Sky Village’ services, taking advantage of avatar robot ‘newme’ developed by ANA Group venture company avatatin.

Domestic travel consumption by Japanese travelers was down 50.1% year on year to 1.6 trillion JPY in the first quarter of 2020 under the second declaration of a state of emergency, as Japanese domestic travelers was also down 46.1% to 50 million.

The ratio of accommodation operators suffering a 70% or more decrease in bookings over 2019 was 42.3% in January, 43% in February, 31% in March, 42.3% in April and 47.2% in May, according to Japan Tourism Agency's survey.

JR East, a railway company covering eastern Japan, is extending its sharing office service ‘STATION WORK’ network, adding personal working space ‘STATION BOOTH’ in a government building.

Prince Hotel will sell a PCR test-packaged plan in the limited period between May 21 and July 21 2021, offering a special coupon for hotel facilities to a negative guest.

KNT-CT will issue preferred share to its parent company Kintetsu Group Holdings and others to raise 40 billion JPY in total to avoid excessive debt, posting net loss of 14.8 billion JPY for FY2021.

New World La Plume Niseko Resort will open in Niseko, Hokkaido in 2023, managed by New World Hotels & Resorts, providing 224 rooms and suites with kitchens and outdoor baths for long-stay guests.

The number of Japanese guest nights was up 18.2% to 26.9 million in March 2021 compared to March 2020, and the average occupancy rate was 34.3%, improving from 26.9% in February.

JAL has drawn up a new FY2021-FY2025 medium-term management plan to restore EBIT to 170 billion JPY in FY2023 and to about 185 billion JPY in FY2025, primarily focusing on Business Strategy, Finance Strategy and ESG Strategy.

Many tourist destinations, including foreign tourism boards, have offered online travel contents you can feel like going out at home during a week-long Golden Week holiday period.

JAL posted the largest deficit of 286.6 billion JPY for FY2020 ended March 31 2021 since the bankruptcy in 2010, as it reduced international passenger revenue by 67.2% and domestic passenger revenue by 67.2%.

Japan Tourism Agency gives an additional financial supports of 100 billion JPY to lodging services for more enhanced health protocol and new developments for Workcation.