On January 9, JATA (Japan Association of Travel Agents) held a New Year’s press conference at its headquarters in Tokyo, where Chairman Hiroyuki Takahashi explained future initiatives. The following are excerpts from Chairman Takahashi’s comments.
Excerpts from the press conference
Looking back on last year, it was, in a word, a year in which the travel market took a leap forward. Travel to Japan grew significantly due to the tailwind of the weak yen and the recovery of air traffic, and both the number of visitors and the amount spent are expected to far surpass 2019, which was a record high year. Domestic travel on an overnight stay basis has recovered to the pre-Corona level, although there are variations by region and other factors. Overseas travel, on the other hand, has been slower to recover than expected, remaining at less than 70% of the pre-Corona level, and is halfway to recovery.
In addition to responding to the travel market, JATA has been taking concrete measures to strengthen compliance in response to the recent series of scandals, including the implementation of training programs and reorganization.
As the travel market recovers, many issues have become apparent. The biggest challenge is the “complete revival of international travel,” which we believe should be recognized as important not only for the industry but also for the country. International exchange is based on mutually beneficial relationships between countries, but the current situation is a serious imbalance between inbound/outbound travel, which needs to be corrected as soon as possible.
In addition, the government has set a target of “60 million visitors to Japan” by 2030. To achieve this goal, it is essential to maintain and expand international flights, including those to regional airports, and to this end, a recovery in outbound travel is essential; international flights cannot be sustained by inbound travel alone.
Furthermore, we believe that the decrease in the number of young people traveling abroad is also a matter of concern in terms of fostering human resources who can play an active role on the international stage, and is also related to international competitiveness. Therefore, JATA will work on three measures to revive overseas travel.
The first is to expand mutual exchange between the two countries by developing high value-added products and providing information. By deepening cooperation with the national tourism bureaus of each country, we will provide JATA member companies with tourism materials that will lead to the development of high value-added products and the expansion of exchanges.
For example, this year’s efforts include “Delicious Europe” in cooperation with the European Tourism Commission (ETC) to attract visitors to European regions and promote food, and Hawaii will hold a sales contest for salespeople to expand group travel.
The second point is to strengthen educational support. Due to the impact of the Corona disaster that halted overseas travel, there is a lack of knowledge and experience in overseas travel sales within travel agencies. This year, in addition to educational training, we will actively conduct inspection tours in cooperation with government tourist bureaus and airlines to grasp the latest local information and strengthen sales capabilities.
The third point is the promotion of young people to travel abroad. We believe this is particularly important.
The passport-holding rate among Japanese has dropped to 17% after the Corona disaster, which is remarkably low among developed countries. The number of young people traveling abroad continues to decline. The Corona disaster has drastically reduced the number of school trips abroad, and even after the Corona disaster, some students have been forced to change their destinations to domestic destinations due to the rising cost of travel.
JATA is planning the second phase of its “Now is the Time to Go Abroad” campaign, which was launched last year to promote international travel among young people. campaign, which was launched last year, to promote international travel among young people. During the campaign, JATA plans to provide financial support for passport acquisition, etc. Details will be announced as soon as they are finalized.
On the other hand, we are also lobbying the government. Last year, we submitted a written request jointly with ANTA (All Nippon Travel Agents Association) to the Policy Advisory Committee on Budget and Taxation. These included “the distribution of free passports to young people traveling abroad for the first time,” “public relations utilizing SNS and influencers in cooperation with overseas tourist bureaus,” and “a revision of the cap on school excursion fees for public junior high and high schools.
Despite the uncertainties, overseas travel is expected to become more active this year, but we must avoid a situation where Japan is left behind. Despite the headwinds of a weak yen and soaring travel costs, there are always high value-added products that meet customer needs. We hope to achieve a full revival of overseas travel this year at all costs through our unique planning capabilities as a travel agency and through cooperation with all related parties.
Regarding inbound tourism, overtourism on the Golden Route is an urgent issue. In response to this, it is essential to diversify into regional areas. In addition to the development of new tourist routes to replace the Golden Route, we must aim to improve secondary transportation, digitalization, multilingualization, or the establishment of a tourism-oriented MaaS that can provide various contents in a one-stop service.
In this context, it is effective to address adventure tourism, which has already grown to a global market size of over 70 trillion yen. Japan has a rich natural environment and unique culture, and has great potential. The success or failure of adventure tourism depends on guides. It is necessary for the public and private sectors to work together to train guides who are well versed in local nature and culture and who can speak English. Currently, training is being conducted individually in each region, but we will seek government support so that this can be implemented on a nationwide basis.
Domestic travel has recovered to the pre-Corona level, but has come to a head. To touch on the actual status of domestic travel, Japanese travelers make an average of 1.4 overnight trips per year and stay an average of 2.3 nights per trip, a trend that has not changed at all over the past decade or so (excluding the Corona disaster).
This is due to the fact that adults cannot take weekdays off and children cannot take days off from school, resulting in travel demand being concentrated on specific holidays. Unless this trend changes, it is clear that the domestic market will shrink as the population decreases.
One of the solutions to this problem is the “Laakation” (Learning + Vacation) program promoted by the National Governors’ Association as part of its reform of the vacation system, in which students learn through a variety of social experiences away from school. Specifically, the system allows public elementary, junior high, and senior high school students and their parents to take time off from school for trips and other out-of-school activities without being absent for a predetermined number of days. If this system takes root nationwide, it will undoubtedly increase demand for weekday travel and boost the overall domestic travel market.
Now, two major events are coming up in 2025 for the industry.
One is the Osaka-Kansai Expo starting in April, which is expected to draw approximately 28.2 million visitors, 3.5 million of whom will be foreigners, providing a great business opportunity for the travel industry. It is also hoped that the pavilions to be exhibited from 160 countries and regions around the world will help to increase the enthusiasm of Japanese people for overseas travel.
The keywords are Expo + tourism. We would like to prepare products for visitors to Japan so that they can visit various regions before and after the Expo, and we would like to create a flow of visitors to Japan who come to Japan for the Expo to spread out to the regions. In addition to the success of the Expo itself, the industry would like to contribute to the local community and the Japanese economy through the Expo.
The other event is Tourism Expo Japan 2025, which will be held in Aichi Prefecture for the first time. The first is that Aichi, Chubu and Hokuriku have world-class tourism contents such as Shoryudo and Ghibli Park, which we would like to promote outside of Japan during the TEJ. It should also lead to the creation of a new flow of people to Hokuriku and alleviate overtourism.
The second is to provide long-lasting support to the affected areas through tourism. The Noto Peninsula area, which suffered tremendous damage, has yet to fully recover. It is highly significant to conduct this project in this area to ensure that thoughts and actions to support reconstruction do not fade away.
Third, Centrair (Central Japan International Airport) is becoming more active. While international flights are recovering overall, there are variations by region, with Centrair in particular lagging behind in the recovery of international flights. We hope to use TEJ as an opportunity to revitalize the region and contribute to the development of internationalization by making Centrair, the gateway to the region, a hub of exchange.
This year is very important and an opportunity to expand the travel market. We will aim to achieve a well-balanced tourism that combines domestic travel, international travel, and inbound travel.
© Source travel watch
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