Digital
Japan National Tourism Organization begins digital promotions for ‘EXPO + Tourism’ in earnest, including delivery of local NFTs
Japan National Tourism Organization (JNTO) has begun digital promotions for ‘EXPO + Tourism, encouraging JNTO website visitors to visit the ‘EXPO + Tourism’ tour booking website, and delivering NFTs featuring nature, foods or cultures in 10 regions.
NEC and Klook offer a package service of hotel pre-checkin and baggage delivery from an airport to a hotel
NEC, Klook and Maruwa Transportation will begin offering ‘Travel Light’ service combining pre-checkin of a hotel with baggage delivery from an airport as one of the solution service against over-tourism.
Digital tourism promotion booth is set up at Kansai International Airport to lure international tourists to visit local areas
A digital tourism PR booth was set up at Kansai International Airport to encourage international tourists to visit local areas in western Japan before Osaka Kansai EXPO opens in April 2025.
JAL expands Inflight Wi-Fi services, offering in all international flight classes and video streaming on domestic flights
JAL has started video streaming services on the domestic flights and Inflight Wi-Fi services unlimitedly for the first and business classes and free in a hour for the premium economy and economy classes.
Cruise Planet, a Japan’s cruise travel OTA, launches a BtoB booking system for travel agents
Cruise Planet, a Japan’s cruise travel OTA, launched a BtoB booking system ‘NAVIS’ for travel agents, which enables travel agents to grasp cabin availability at a glance and book available cabins immediately.
NAVITIME Japan, a leading navigation app provider, adds an AI-based travel planning function on the navigation website for inbound travelers
NAVITIME Japan, a leading navigation app provider, has started offering a generative AI-based travel planning function on a web service for inbound travelers to Japan.
Using the Murata Manufacturing’s technology, Resorttrust hotels of Japan analyzes guests’ health conditions to propose personalized wellness activities
Resorttrust, a Japanese hotel operation firm, will begin a demonstration program to propose personalized wellness activities in their hotels by analyzing the peripheral blood circulation of guests.
Tobu Railway and Hitachi launch biometric authentication services, such as empty-hand payment or maybe passing through a railway gate in the future
Tobu Railway and Hitachi are gradually introducing a biometric authentication-based digital identity platform in 100 or more commercial facilities. They expects to to expand opportunities to use the service, probably passing through a railway gate, in the future.
80% of Japanese people are proactive about getting loyalty points in daily shopping
According to the latest NTT Docomo survey, 80.1% of 15 to 79 years old Japanese people are proactive about getting loyalty points in daily shopping. 87.1% said that it is ideal for them to accumulate points without realizing and without any efforts.
LINE Yahoo search trend shows Japanese solo travelers are interested in South Korea or Bangkok in this summer
Yahoo Data Solution revealed that the peak period of travel in this summer is July as a whole, while the peak period of solo travel is August. The top of the related keywords search is ‘solo travel, girls, recommendation.'
Japanese tourism firms talk about how they use generative AI at a Google’s annual conference
JR EAST, Hoshino Resorts and LINE Yahoo talked about how they use generative AI at an annual conference ‘Google Cloud Next Tokyo ’24.' Tomoyuki Hirate, Google Cloud President Japan, said “AI is definitely shifting from the trial stage to the usage stage in the business world.”
A Japanese railway operator starts a pilot program to support international visitors, using generative AI by Google Gemini
JR East a Japanese railway operator., has started a pilot program ‘JR EAST Travel Concierge,’ to support travel planning for international visitors, using Google’s generative AI ‘Gemini’ and Google Cloud.
Japanese start-up Payn, automatic cancellation fee collection system provider, sends a digital gift to a customer who cancels a hotel or a restaurant
Payn, an automatic cancellation fee collection system provider, has tied up with giftee, an e-gift platform, to send a digital gift to a customer who cancels a hotel or a restaurant.
54% of Japanese people want tourism information directly from a destination, and ‘loyal customers’ are more found in 20s and 30s
53.6% of all want direct mails from contents holders in the tourism sector, and 39.1% in the sports and entertainment sector, according to NTTCom Online Marketing Solutions' survey on ‘D2C (Direct to Consumer) .
Hopper enters the Japanese market through a partnership with Sumitomo Mitsui Card, providing its original OTA function
Hopper Technology Solutions (HTS), a BtoB solution provider of OTA Hopper, and Sumitomo Mitsui Card signed a strategic business partnership, providing HTS original OTA solution to Sumitomo for the first time in Japan.
Haneda Airport launches a duty-free online booking service for Chinese travelers on a WeChat mini program
Haneda Airport has launched ‘Haneda Airport Duty-free Booking Station,’ which is a new service for Chinese travelers to book duty-free items on a WeChat mini program.
Osaka Kansai EXPO 2025 launches its three unique digital money experiences in its official Digital Wallet
Digital money ‘MYAKU-PE!, ‘ loyalty point service ‘MYAKU-PO!’ and the original NFT ‘MYAKU-N!’ have been launched as new digital functions of ‘EXPO 2025 Digital Wallet.’
DMO Kyoto encourages inbound travelers to use a designated interpretation app as one of the over-tourism countermeasures
Kyoto City encourages inbound travelers visiting Kyoto City to use ‘Oyraa,’ an interpretation app, to avoid troubles in traveling in advance and as one of the over-tourism countermeasures.
JR Hotel Group makes LINE, the biggest communication app in Japan, possible as a loyalty membership pass
JR Hotel Group announced that LINE, the biggest communication app in Japan, became an option as ‘JR Hotel Members(JRHM)’ pass.
NAVITIME JAPAN data show that inbound travelers’ visits in Minami Ashigara, Kanagawa skyrocketed by 32 times in the spring 2024 due to early bloomer cherry
NAVITIME JAPAN, a Japanese navigation app provider, announced regions with more inbound travelers’ visits in the spring 2024, based on data from ‘Japan Travel by NAVITIME.’ The largest growth was seen in Minami Ashigara City.
