Tomoyuki Takada, Trip.com International Travel Japan General Manager, talked about the latest travel trends and local tourism as well as its supports and services at the Trip.com booth in Tourism EXPO Japan, which was held in Nagoya in September 2025. 

“Traditionally, one of the competitive principles for global OTAs has been to optimize transactions, reducing the number of clicks and guiding customers smoothly to reservations,” Takada said. “However, with the development of AI and accelerating personalization, the responsibility of selling the intangible product of travel, and the accompanying support utilizing people and technology, will become factors that give users peace of mind.”

His saying is symbolized by the Trip.com app, which provides seamless supports and services to users, covering not only hotel, air ticket, activity bookings but also airport transfer, eSIM, translation, exchange rate calculation and SNS posting. Trip.com is OTA, but one of the features is ‘generous’ supports not only by technologies but also human. 

For example, when you register your flight for an airport transfer, the driver will send you a photo of your face, an image of the vehicle, and the meeting point when you arrive at the airport. If your flight is delayed, the service will automatically adjust the schedule at no additional charge.

Trip.com International Travel Japan 代表取締役社長の高田智之氏

AI development equals personalization 

Trip.com installs AI travel assistance ‘TripGenie,’ which supports real-time translation, scans restaurant menus with a camera and displays the translated names of dishes along with their characteristics, and uses image recognition to provide guides in Japanese to tourist spots.

According to Takada, Trip.com divides its AI development into two axes: for businesses and for consumers. He said, “For consumers, AI development is synonymous with promoting a certain kind of personalization. By inputting a company's own data into AI, it can make more in-depth suggestions.”

Meanwhile, Trip.com offers 24-hours Japanese-speaking customer support center with more than 100 staff. “A strength of Trip.com is the ability to handle problems and errors in-house, thanks to close collaboration between product, technology, sales, and call center teams,” Takada said. “We thoroughly comply with Japanese business practices and laws for quality control.”

What are the latest travel trends?

Takada also talked about the latest travel trends based on searching and booking data. He explained, “Outbound travel from Japan has been recovering in long-distance destinations such as Europe and Hawaii, but the return is mainly seen among traditional overseas travel customers who refrained from traveling due to the impact of currency exchange rates.”

He analyzed that other potential customers do not book a travel after searching because they have psychological hurdles, such as language and travel anxiety. Therefore, he emphasized that Trip.com's supports and services can reduce their anxieties to encourage them to go abroad. 

Inbound travel to Japan is also increasing due to the expansion of regional routes from neighboring Asian countries. Takada also points out changes in the Korean market, a key customer for inbound travel to Japan. From the first half to the second half of this year, flight bookings from Seoul to Shanghai tended to exceed those to Tokyo because of the drop in hotel prices in Shanghai.

Takada said, "The tide may be turning. In order to attract tourists to Japan, it will be important to prepare facilities to accommodate them and showcase the appeal of the regions."

ツーリズムEXPOジャパン2025の業界日2日目は、ゲストの航空・旅行アナリストの鳥海高太朗氏さんと、旅行動向や最新トレンド、旅とAIの可能性などをテーマにトークセッションを実施