On July 5, JATA (Japan Association of Travel Agents) held a briefing on the current state, challenges, and future of the travel industry via the Corona Disaster.
At the beginning of the meeting, Chairman Hiroyuki Takahashi explained sales trends for the most recent quarter, industry-wide sustainability efforts, and the upcoming Tourism Expo Japan to be held in Osaka in October. Mr. Takahashi has repeatedly stated that “without a revival of overseas travel, there will be no revival of the travel industry,” and he reiterated this point, showing his commitment to the industry as an industry group.
The briefing mentioned domestic, international, and inbound travel as well as human resource development and subsidized work styles, but this report will focus on the situation surrounding DX (Digital Transformation) for domestic travel and inbound travel from China.
Etsumitsu Koyano, vice chairman of the board in charge of domestic travel, was in charge of the explanation. He introduced the progress of “centralized management and sharing of information on accommodation providers” mentioned by Mr. Takahashi at the New Year press conference.
He said that the domestic industry has been hit hard by the new Corona, and that it is necessary to separate the areas in which companies should compete with their individuality from those in which they should work together, and that the “construction of a common platform for the tourism industry” is the result of these efforts.
Focusing on inefficient operations between lodging facilities and travel agencies, DX is expected to increase productivity, reduce labor shortages, improve quality, and add value.
For example, the basic information that travel agencies require of lodging facilities includes a vast array of detailed items such as facility name and location, facility size, number of rooms, room type, availability of bath/toilet facilities, room furnishings, availability of restaurants, availability of public baths, availability of parking, and so on.
Every year (or at the time of contract renewal), travel agencies inquired about this information to lodging facilities, and lodging facilities replied in a format that differed from one travel agency to another. Travel agencies, on the other hand, had to manually input the responses they received via e-mail or fax into their own systems. This industry-wide effort to digitize this process is now underway.
Accommodation facilities would enter the following items into a common platform, and if there are any changes, they would only need to revise that part of the form. Since the database is shared among travel agencies, the enormous amount of work required each year by individual companies to check, respond, and enter information will be eliminated all at once.
© Source travel watch