Japan targeting ‘big relaunch’ in spring 2023

Japan’s borders reopening was “the news we’d all been waiting for”, said Matt Joslin, senior marketing and communications manager for the Japan National Tourism Organisation.

The country reopened for visa-free travel on October 11 which sparked strong demand for the destination, Joslin told Travel Weekly at World Travel Market.

“We are expecting spring 2023 to be the big reopening,” he said. “Especially with some of the airlines and the routes. They’ve had a bit more time to get the flight numbers back up, which they have been doing for a while now, but to get them back up to pre-Covid levels, so that’s going to be the big relaunch for Japan.”

Due to the ongoing conflict in Ukraine, flight times to Japan are currently about one-and-a-half hours longer than usual, added Joslin, with a direct flight taking around 13 hours.

“Japan is already a long-haul destination anyway,” he added. “I think people are already expecting a long-haul flight. The cost of flights is something that we’re conscious of as well.”

However, the yen is currently performing well against the pound.

“Things in Japan with the pound are actually very cheap,” he said. “That was always the story with Japan, the flights tended to be the most expensive part.”

The UK has historically been the biggest international market from Europe, said Joslin.