Expedia has started developing a new marketing campaign for Japan as the OTA giant celebrates this year for the18th anniversary of staring its service in Japan.
Peter Kern, Vice Chairman and CEO Expedia Group, who visited Japan for the announcement, said that they are winning trusts from customers as a OTA leader by offering best services through state-of-the arts technologies including AI. Also, he added that they continue strengthening investment to Japan as the inbound travel demand to Japan has been growing.
According to Expedia data, the number of searches of ‘Tokyo’ on expedia.com increased by around 55% year on year for two years in a row, and they estimated that 48% of travelers from U.S. to Japan booked their travels on Expedia Group. Kern said that they want to focus on exploring unknown Japan in cooperation with Japan Tourism Agency orJapan National Tourism Organization (JNTO).
Expedia is offering personalized services through a variety of digital solutions in Japan. Expedia Group has advanced its technology reform on expedia.com, hotels.com and vrbo for the past years, including ‘Trip Planner’ with ChatGPT, ‘Price Tracker’ for dynamic pricing of airfares, ‘Smart Shopping’ for comparison of accommodation contents and ‘Dynamic Travel Guide’ for proposing better travel plans.
For the Japan market, Expedia has just begun 24-hours customer supports over telephone and on X.
Peter Kern talked about Japan.
“Travel booming after the pandemic ends this year, and the market will return to normal before the pandemic, but it is still healthy,” Kern said. Regarding slow recovery of outbound travel from Japan, he pointed out that economic factors, including depreciation of the yen, still influences the market.
(From left) Natsuko Kimura, Expedia Japan Director, Peter Kern, Jon Gieselman
A new branding message to Japan
Expedia has begun developing a new campaign exclusively for Japan, renaming its global branding message ‘Made to Travel’ to ‘Itsumo no Soto (Going outside of the ordinary life in English).’ Focusing on purpose-oriented travel and passion to travel, it broadcasts CM titled ‘Two Step’ on TV and also Netflix, an advertisement partner.
“It is time to strengthen marketing in Japan,” Jon Gieselman, President Expedia Brands, said. “We are supporting fundamental desires to travel by understanding travelers’ minds after the pandemic.”
