News

The inbound travel market of Japan continued having a hard time, as international arrivals were down 99.7% year on year to 8,700 in August 2020. Due to travel restrictions, the almost zero results have been seen since April.

Local bus and tour operator in Utsunomiya, Tochigi Prefecture launches a new package product incorporating PCR testing in tie-ups with a local clinic to ensure safer travel and confidence in traveling.

KNT-CT has started selling ‘’E’Vacation,’ an innovative product using electric vehicle (EV) in cooperation with Nissan in Kanagawa and Shizuoka, taking advantage of the Nissan’s car sharing service ‘NISSAN e-share mobi.’

Sales of 48 major travel companies unprecedentedly reduced by 87.4% year on year to 52.2 billion JPY in total in July 2020, but the monthly reduction rate, however, improved from 97.6% in May and 92.9% in June.

The trend survey of Nikkei BP, a business magazine publisher, finds that the index score of ‘Workcation’ is rapidly rising, as Japanese workers are more interested in the new working style with COVID-19.

Local shopping coupons, as part of the Japanese government’s domestic travel recovery campaign ‘Go To Travel,’ will be distributed on October 1 2020.A coupon is equivalent to discount of 15% on the total travel price for shopping in a local destination and neighbor prefectures.

JTB develops a new product to tour in English in Japan with an authorized interpreter guide, targeting students who have lost international studies or senior people who want to learn English in travel, for example.

HIS continued struggling for a survive from the pandemic crisis, as it considerably reduced transaction volume by 97% year on year to 1,150 million JPY in July 2020.

Japanese guest nights in Kyoto City in July 2020 were down 50.1% year on year, but the monthly result improved from 23.8% in June, and DMO Kyoto explains that room rates on OTA after October this year are rising to the summer vacation level.

Interests in Workcation has been rising among Japanese workers since the pandemic stops their routine works, however it is true that both employees and employers have several challenges to do it.

The total number of Japanese guest nights was down 45.7% to 22.3 million in July 2020, improving by by 15.5 points from 61.2% reduction in the previous month. The average occupancy rate was still low but higher.

To raise travelers' confidences at an airport, JAL has introduced a contactless self-checkin kiosk at Haneda Airport as a trial in the beginning. You can check in with a finger in the air 3 cm off the display.

‘Leisure White Paper 2020' shows that domestic travel was the most popular leisure activity among Japanese people for nine years in a row, and a notable trend in 2019 was an increase in subscription service users even before COVID-19.

Airbnb will join the Japanese government’s leading domestic travel campaign ‘Go To Travel’ as a home sharing platform, offering discounted listings in the middle of this coming October.

Okinawa Convention & Visitors Bureau (OCVB) has revised downward its annual visitor forecast for 2020 from originally 3.91 million (announced on July 29) to 3.61 million mainly because of more group travel cancelations than expected. In the worse case, Okinawa will lose 511 billion JPY in tourism spending.

Users of the Japanese government’s domestic travel recovery campaign ‘Go To Travel’ reached about 4.2 million guest nights in total for the first month. Registrations in the campaign accounted for 49% of all accommodation providers and 58% of all travel service providers.

Japan is the most preferred destination to visit after COVID-19 ends among Asian travelers, according to the joint survey by DBJ and JTBF. They point out that ‘traditional cleanness’ of Japan will be one of the keys to attract international travelers again.

ANA and JAL continued suffering low domestic passenger demand during the mid-August summer holiday period because of re-spread of COVID-19 , resulting in the load factor of 30% range.

Japanese overseas travelers was down 98.8% year on year to 20,300 in July 2020, but the monthly result doubled from 10,666 in June 2020.

JNTO reported international visitors to Japan was down 99.9% year on year to 3,800 in July 2020, and the YOY reduction was seen for ten months in a row, and the almost zero results have been seen since April.