subject: Japan Could be the New Travel Technology Wildcard [print this page] It would seem that Japan have a very unconventional travel model compared to the rest of the developed world and an approach that many would probably describe as eccentric. So how exactly does Japan differ in travel methods and technology?
A recent conference may have shed some light on this subject as it inquired into the travel patterns and approaches of many different countries.
At Webin Travel, representatives from various companies such as Expedia, Venture Republic and Pegasus Solutions shed some light on significant and some pretty significant differences, and some rather intriguing ones.
Perhaps one of the most surprising factors is that Japanese youths prefer to travel digitally than physically. That is rather than taking a trip to their desired destination they prefer a digital recreation of their desired spot.
Through computer games the young cyber traveller gets to interact with their location in previously unimaginable ways, yet the question must linger, do they actually experience the location? And it is concerning that so few young people are leaving their homes to see the world, though the panel highlighted that this could lead to a new style of tourism, combining this new virtual travel with physical travel.
This would be a way to perhaps encourage a stronger market for Japanese youths, by implementing this favoured virtual travel in to foreign departures.
In regards to mobile technology, it is clear that this addition to the traveler's itinerary has truly saturated the market with Japan embracing the new possibilities like no other.
The conference described Japan as over' mobile, which looked at in context with the figures reveals that rather than a new mode of consumption this is simply a way of life for the Japanese traveller.
It was revealed that 70% of the population research travel by mobile. 20% buy travel inventory online using their phones, and that the majority of this market is 45+ men. In the west such figures are unheard of.
Yet the confusion now is how to judge these findings. Is Japan an image of the next progression within the tourist industry? Can we judge the future of Western tourism based on the findings in Japan? Or is Japan simply on a different trajectory and therefore misleading to other travel markets.
In some respect it may be beneficial to look at Japan's approach and see how we could apply their practice to our own MO.
Certainly there may be a developing interest in mobile internet technology and an increasing integration with such technologies being used for travel purposes. Currently Google are leading the way in revolutionising the way Westerners travel, with their various apps such as Google travel which uses image recognition to form a fully interactive travel guide that draws on the internet as a an ever expanding travel database offering the most definitive travel guide ever conceived.
With the rise in tablet computers this sort of travel tech may become even more prescient with travellers.
Now many holiday home have apps specifically designed to help you find vacation rentals, this may become a straightforward tool for westerners.
