Japan opening borders to international visitors opens opportunity to services providers globally

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While Japan fully opened its borders to tourists once again on 7 September, it presented a significant opportunity for hotels and inbound providers of tourism services all around the world to capture Japanese tourists once again.

Alex Barros, Director of Marketing and Innovation at Beonprice, a revenue management and total profitability platform for the hotel sector, adds: “In terms of inbound Japanese travellers to Europe evidently this is good news as whilst Japanese citizens could leave the country for some time, they were subject to restrictions on return and so on when returning. Plus the opening up to foreign tourists gives a very clear signal that the Japanese government sees the wider world as safe again, something that will be comforting to Japanese tourists. Hotels should therefore be activating their Japan sales and marketing channels again. Nonetheless the Yen currency is at one of its weakest points in many years, so this will make international travel for Japanese people a little more expensive so maintaining and increases profitability could be more difficult. However, with the right strategy it will be possible and hoteliers value greatly Japanese guests.”

Meanwhile Fabian Gonzalez, Founder of Forward_MAD, a luxury tourism event happening in Madrid from 5th to 7th of October, also comments: “Japanese guests are hugely prized by luxury hotels around the world so news that the country is now making it easy for them to travel again is very much welcome.”

Finally, Wolfgang Emperger, Senior Vice President for Europe, Africa and the Uk & Ireland Region, Shiji Group comments: “As countries have started to reopen again, especially those that have been closed for longer than most, we are seeing them face several challenges at a tech level as they try and reactivate systems and processes that have evolved whilst they’ve been deactivated: whether that be payment platforms, software updates, changes in providers or protocols there’s much that Japanese sellers of international travel will need to consider when trying to make and then service international bookings. There’s no one easy ‘press here’ button sadly.