The new world of smart phones and social media will have a dramatic impact on the way people search for and book travel, the Web in Travel conference was told.
Key points from the Japanese market to emerge from the conference:
Young Japanese are not traveling because they’re spending their time on social gaming sites where they visit destinations virtually. Consequently they have lost their appetite to travel
Japanese men now spend more time taking virtual girlfriends on holiday than their real ones
Japanese women – especially those between the ages of 30 and 70 – are calling the shots when making travel decisions.
Any effort to get younger people to travel needs to be simple and fun with a strong entertainment value
Around 24 percent of Japanese travelers seeking information on Expedia still contact the call centre. Once they make the call, conversion rate is high at 50-60 percent.
The Japanese prefer Twitter to Facebook. And increasingly they are leaving critical and sarcastic remarks on travel review sites such as TripAdvisor.
And 30 percent of Japanese people aged 20-30 haven’t travelled in the last 12 months.
