In Japan, group travel and package tours are an integral part of the services offered by the travel and tourism industry.
The market size of travel agency-organized tours surpassed one trillion Japanese yen in the years prior to the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic but declined thereafter tremendously. Since inbound and outbound travel was minimal during the pandemic until recently, industry revenue from package tours came almost exclusively from domestic travel.
The travel and tourism industry in Japan is striving to provide people with more options and maximum flexibility. The diversification of the industry can also be seen in trends such as glamping and workation, which add new facets to tourism. To what extent the package tour industry will be able to recover from the consequences of the pandemic remains to be seen.
Industry characteristics
While privately organized travel is undeniably more prevalent and also comprises the lion’s share of the revenue generated by the travel and tourism industry in Japan, group travel and package tours contribute their fair share to the industry’s market size. Package tour travel shows several distinctive features, one of which is the higher unit price per trip when compared to private trips. Most package tours are overnight trips for touristic purposes, but service providers cater to a broad range of needs, including short same-day travel tours, and business travel. Package tour travel (for groups) comprises a substantial part of outbound travel, while there is a lower share of domestic trips that employ the services of package tours.Towards more flexibility
The package tour industry in Japan was dealt a heavy blow by the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the industry was already contracting even before the pandemic. As shown by the utilization of package tours by age group, hitherto business models and services seem to be successful with older generations but unsuccessful with younger generations. To provide services that find more broad appeal, the industry started offering dynamic packaging which enables travelers to custom-build aspects of their trip. Currently, such individualized travel package offers are more commonly solicited than group travel package tours when it comes to domestic tourism.The travel and tourism industry in Japan is striving to provide people with more options and maximum flexibility. The diversification of the industry can also be seen in trends such as glamping and workation, which add new facets to tourism. To what extent the package tour industry will be able to recover from the consequences of the pandemic remains to be seen.
