Covid-19 creating online travel boom in Japan
11 Aug 2020
Online travel is starting to boom in Japan, where the novel coronavirus is spreading at an alarming pace, with some tour products allowing participants to view countryside scenery and interact with local people, and others offering virtual travel experience and local specialties.
Travel companies are trying to meet growing needs from consumers who are refraining from long-distance trips amid the epidemic but want to feel like they are making trips while staying at home, Jiji Press reported.
Hankyu Travel International Co. sells an online tour featuring sightseeing spots in Chiba Prefecture. When an image of Kameiwa Cave in the city of Kimitsu in the eastern Japan prefecture is shown on the screen of a personal computer, the voice of a guide says: “In the stream are Japanese rice fish, and tree leaves are green and beautiful. The scenery looks cool.”
The tour is gaining popularity, with one participant saying, “I felt as if I was actually in the place, so it was fun.”
The tour product also introduces Mount Nokogiri, where people can have a panoramic view of the Boso Peninsula, which covers a large part of the prefecture.
Some tour products are designed to support local businesses struggling with plunges in the number of tourists due to the coronavirus crisis.
Tokyo-based Autabi sells online travel packaged with local specialties. The firm created the tour products “to support farmers and sake brewers hit by decreases in shipments of their products to hotels and ‘ryokan’ (Japanese-style inns)” amid the epidemic, its head, Masahiro Karasawa, said.
Autabi started the virtual tours in April, attracting more than 1,000 participants in total. It also has many repeat customers.
Prices of online tours generally start at less than 3,000 yen. Many products allow participation by a small number of people so that every one of them can have interactive experiences.
Online travel is good for people seeing actual travel difficult due to time constraints or in terms of physical strength, a Hankyu Travel official said.
Even after the coronavirus epidemic subsides, online travel is expected to continue attracting demand, Autabi’s Karasawa said.
Source: Bernama
