TokyoTomo Travel Guide

Golf Digest Online Inc (GDO), which offers reservation services for golf courses and golf lessons, started on July 9 sales of golf package tours to Japan targeting at the wealthy Chinese. The sales agency is China’s REAGLE COMMERCIAL SCIENCE&TECHNOLOGY CO., LTD which provides overall golf-related services in China. The two companies had formed a business tie-up contract in February, 2010. With the sale of these golf package tours, the business tie-up has officially started between the two companies. The sale, first focusing on Beijing, Shanghai and Hunan Province which have a large golf population, will be gradually expanded to boost other areas. In the medium- and long-term, GDO aims to capture 10,000 customers annually.

These package tours feature a golf course in the area popular to Chinese, accommodation at a luxurious hotel or Japanese inn, combining sightseeing and shopping. The package tour price is available, for instance, from 35,000 yuan (approximately 460,000 yen) which includes sight-seeing tours and shopping in Tokyo, golf in Fuji Hakone area and a superior hotel accommodation. While Golf Digest Online cooperates in planning the golf package tours, REAGLE COMMERCIAL SCIENCE&TECHNOLOGY CO., LTD sells the products, by telephone sales or by its newsletters, targeting at its membership of some 200,000.

Meanwhile, PR Branding Dept. of Golf Digest Online said that the package tours, as they feature a prestigious golf course, target mainly at the wealthy FIT travelers. However, as GDO also plans to enhance the line-up of golf package tours, there is the possibility of putting low-priced package tours on the market. In the future, GDO will be planning tour products combining golf and medical tourism as well as Osaka- and Hokkaido-based package tours.

Source: Travel Vision

Travel Vision Inc. provides information on the travel industry in Japan via "Daily Travel Vision", a Japanese-language e-mail newsletter, and the "Travel Vision" website. There are nearly 110,000 people working in the Japanese travel industry, and Travel Vision is proud to be bringing travel news to more than 30,000 people through Daily Travel Vision.

JTB Corp. posted the biggest net loss on record of 14,557 million yen in the consolidated financial results for the fiscal year 2009 (April 1, 2009 – March 31, 2010). Stagnant economy, spread of the new type of influenza, and modal shift of domestic travel sales channel to Internet are said to have driven the agency to leaner revenue of 1,121,280 million yen, down 12.1 percent from the previous year. Despite the efforts to cut back on the sales administrative expenses by 15,250 million yen, it booked operating loss of 3,393 million yen, being unable to cover the dent in revenue. It recorded recurring loss of 1,668 million yen and net loss of 10,422 million yen because of extraordinary expenses for store scrapping and relocation and early retirement in line with the group’s restructuring plan.

Travel sales dipped 12.9 percent to 990.649 million yen, shy of one trillion yen. Overseas travel revenue fell 17.4 percent to 407,146 million yen due to the outbreak of H1N1 flu and the price drop of package tour LOOK JTB, with the customers handled having dropped 7 percent to 3,293,061. It is noted, however, that customers booked on package tours such as LOOK JTB, JTB Grand Tour & Service (tours produced in an integrated manner from planning and sales to escorting), and media-supported tours increased 1.9 percent to 1,872,000. In addition, JTB strove to sell inclusive tour charters and, as the result, customers handled on them showed a growth of 20 percent to 103,000.

Sales of domestic travel sank 10 percent to 539,624 million yen as the agency missed out on travelers going for Internet bookings although business of educational tours was robust. Inbound travel was dull on account of strong yen with revenue of 43,879 million yen, down 2.1 percent. Meanwhile, it is noteworthy that sales achieved at foreign visitors’ booking website “” grew 19.6 percent over the previous year to 1,080 million yen with 67,300 customers, up 36 percent.

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Kinki Nippon Tourist (KNT) reported overseas travel sales for April 2010 had been 9,813 million yen, up 11.4 percent from last year, showing a positive growth for the first time in 21 months since August 2008. Overseas group tours and package tours suffered a setback affected by temporary closure at European airports, but international air ticket sales for individual travelers soared 49.2 percent to 4,401 million yen. Apart from troubled group tours to Europe, student tours were in good form; therefore, total of overseas group tour sales remained almost flat at 1,718 million yen, down 0.4 percent, while package tour tumbled 10.6 percent to 3,693 million yen.

Domestic travel declined 6 percent to 16,820 million yen. Business of group travel, in which student groups were active but ordinary groups were stagnant like the case of overseas travel, sold 6,102 million yen, down 5.7 percent. Package tour sales sank 5.9 percent to 6,316 million yen and individual travel was down 6.7 percent to 4,402 million yen.

Inbound travel surged 31.2 percent to 689 million yen with strong demand. Total travel turnover for the month at home and abroad was 27,829 million yen, up 0.5 percent, a positive growth made for the first time in 28 months since December 2007.

Source: Travel Vision

Travel Vision Inc. provides information on the travel industry in Japan via "Daily Travel Vision", a Japanese-language e-mail newsletter, and the "Travel Vision" website. There are nearly 110,000 people working in the Japanese travel industry, and Travel Vision is proud to be bringing travel news to more than 30,000 people through Daily Travel Vision.