Japan Association of Travel Agents (JATA) unveiled outlines of ‘Tourism EXPO Japan (TEJ) 2026’ with the theme of ‘The Changing Nature of Travel,’ which will be held at Tokyo Big Sight from September 24 to 27. The biggest tourism event in Japan will be co-held with Travel Solution 2026 for tourism operators and VIST JAPAN Travel & MICE Mart 2026 for the inbound travel market.

The organizer aims at 180,000 visitors for four days, almost same numbers as 2024, when the event was held at Tokyo Big Sight, even though the exhibition space is smaller than before because the venue is under renovation. 

For the domestic travel market, a large scale of exhibitions for GREEN×EXPO 2027 Yokohama and the 30th anniversary of the World Heritage registration for Miyajima Hiroshima.

For the outbound travel market, Portugal will be exhibited at 1.5 times more space than before, and Morocco and Sweden will be back. On the contrary, Middle East countries, such as Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Jordan, are not allowed to exhibit according to the organizer’s rule that a country or a region under Travel Warning Level 3 cannot register in the event. 

As TEJ Collection, special exhibition spaces for wellness and gastronomy will be set up in addition to cruise and adventure.

Business meetings and international conferences

The organizer also aims at 6,200 business meetings not only by Japanese sellers and foreign buyers for inbound travel and Japanese buyers and foreign sellers for outbound travel but also between the third party countries. 

The TEJ conference  will consist of the first part for tourism ministers to describe respective tourism policies and the second part for international tourism organizations, such as WTTC and PATA, to discuss the today’s tourism trends. 

The admission fees for general days will be increased by 200 yen each, to 1,500 yen for same-day tickets and 1,200 yen for advance tickets, reflecting rising labor costs and prices. Students, including high school students, will continue to be admitted free of charge with prior registration, as before as one of the efforts to foster the future tourism human resources,