Japan Domestic Travel

The total number of guest nights in April 2024 (provisionally) was up 11.9% year on year to 50.9 million, which were also up 0.5% compared to the same month of 2019, and guest nights of foreigner travelers were up 16.5% to 13.2 million.

Yamanashi Prefecture will introduce a pre-booking program to collect admission fees from climbers to Mt.Fuji on July 1 2024. The prefecture placed a gate in the Mt. Fuji fifth entrance station to collect admission fees this year.

63% of dog owners hope to travel together with their dogs. The ratio of owners who are eager to travel with their pets (except owners who want to if possible) reduced to about 10% of all.

ANA X, a ANA Group company, unveiled the TaaS (Travel as a Service) Platform concept for seamless travel on an smartphone app to expand an ANA economy zone by providing more opportunities to live or travel with accumulated miles.

The Japan’s first private jet membership service was launched, providing members with an opportunity to charter Honda Jet in preference to individual charter.

This year's cherry blossom season is expected to start blooming first in Tokyo on March 18, according to Weathernews. Full blooming will be earlier than usual nationwide.

Niigata, Toyama and Fukui Prefectures have decided to receive bookings for financial aid package on March 8 2024. The package will be applicable to travel from March 16 to April 26.

Japan Tourism Agency officially announced outlines of a travel discount program in the devastated Hokuriku. International visitors to Japan are eligible for the program, too.

TradFit, a Japanese AI speaker provider for accommodation, launched a new service to recommend a right hotel in a destination based on data acquired from a user’s smartphone.

The total number of guest nights in December 2023 (provisionally) was up 9.4% year on year to 51.5 million, which were also up 9.3% compared to the same month of 2019. Foreigner travelers were up 32.3% to 12.1 million.

Asia-Pacific Institute of Research (APIR) estimated spending by visitors to EXPO 2025 Osaka Kansai at 891.3 billion JPY in a basic case, which of 224 billion JPY for transportation, 173.5 billion JPY for accommodation, 161.9 billion JPY for drinking and eating, 186.7 billion JPY for shopping and 145 billion JPY for entertainment.

To support the Noto Peninsula Earthquake-hit regions, a travel discount program is launched for four prefectures, which will be available from March to late April before Golden Week period starts.

Total number of guest nights in November 2023 (provisionally) was up 16.9% year on year to 53.6 million, which were up 7.9% compared to the same month of 2019. The share of foreigners’ guest nights was 22.8% of the total in October.

Airbnb Japan has introduced new specific functions for Japan in line with the recent trends in the Japanese market, saying that guests choose locations other than famous tourist spots and prefer to group travel.

Sato-koya, a mountain cabin located in the 5th station of Mt.Fuji, will begin providing a tour to stay in the winter. The price is 79,200 JPY a night a person, including a variety of activities and a guide tour.

Hoshino Resorts, a Japan’s hotel chain, has started selling an unique stay plan without a smartphone, named ‘No Smartphone Stay.’ In checking in, smartphone is sealed in the box.

Guest nights by Japanese travelers and foreigner travelers in September 2023 were respectively up 0.6% to 40.7 million and up 15.4% to 9.5 million compared to the same month of 2019.

Four-days ‘Tourism Expo Japan 2023 Osaka/Kansai’ was held with a theme of ‘OPEN THE DOOR TO THE FUTURE,’ from October 26 to 29 2023 to showcase the future of diversified tourism industries in Japan after the pandemic.

Shimanami Japan, a local DMO, has started tourism DX demonstration on its app for rent-a-bicycle users in Shimanami area in order to increase local spending by them.

MOL Cruises announced that the Japanese cruise operator will begin operating a new cruise ship ‘MITSUI OCEAN FUJI’ in December 2024, expecting to attract senior working people or couples in Japan and even inbound travelers as new customers.