A very Happy New Year to you all! My name is Takahiko Ohata, the Chairman of OTOA. We are delighted to welcome business partners from various Embassies, the Japan Tourism Agency, JATA, ANTA & all sectors of our industry. Thank you all for taking time to join us for this, our first formal New Year Party for 5 years!

As we look forward to 2025, we are finally seeing a recovery in travel demand, especially in the Inbound, sector, where the spending of Japanese visitors has significantly boosted the Japanese economy. At the same time, we must be aware that issues such as overtourism, a shortage of hotels, and a lack of labor in the accommodation industry now pose significant new challenges. On top of this, the number of “manner violations” by foreign visitors, a seemingly inevitable result of cultural differences, continues to increase. Inbound tourism’s growth is also subject to significant fluctuation in case of changes in diplomatic relations and other external factors, making it important that we don’t take Japan’s current popularity for granted, and continue to promote the country to visitors. Outbound travel, on the other hand, is unfortunately taking longer to recover post-pandemic. As the global economic recovery progresses, the focus on each country’s policies on inflation and interest-rate-control continues to impact individual economies, resulting here in Japan specifically in a weakening of the yen, the single biggest factor holding back Japanese Outbound travel’s recovery. Recently, the leaders of both Japan and the United States have changed, and with geopolitical tensions continuing to rise, the importance of international cooperation and diplomacy will only increase. We in the international travel industry recognize that our very business itself is a form of international cooperation and sometimes diplomacy. I always emphasize the importance of maintaining an even balance between Inbound & Outbound travel, like two wheels on an axel, and strongly believe that promoting international two-way travel is crucial in activating cross-cultural exchange with a wide array of countries. Ideally, every international traveler should prioritize interactions with the people of the country they are visiting, as understanding of and respect for their destination will only deepen as a result.

This year, increasing global environmental awareness is expected to make the concept of sustainable travel more important than ever. The increase in travelers who value ecotourism and contributing to local communities as they travel is likely to continue, strengthening the trend towards choosing tours that incorporate these concepts. Additionally, new travel destinations are likely to continue to emerge. I believe that there will be an increase in travelers seeking new experiences, particularly those focused on unique cultures and areas of natural beauty. Furthermore, the importance of personal growth and skill enhancement as a travel-goal will be increasingly recognized, demanding development of travel options which cater to this. In the travel industry, we believe that everyone involved in this business should recognize and act upon these trends as they consider how to forge their futures. In 2025, we are charged with breaking the accepted norms of our industry, focusing on what travelers want now, and incorporating that into our offerings. I genuinely believe that if we constantly seek to push the bounds of those things which only professional travel agencies & tour operators can create, a bright future lies ahead.

Post-pandemic, for OTOA members, local costs in destinations have significantly increased due to the weak yen and other factors. And with the ever accelerating global-standardization of hotel payment policies, the need and deadlines for deposit payments have changed significantly. With the cooperation of JATA, we have requested quicker payments, in line with these changing global-standards, from JATA member companies. And to this end, over the past three years, we have conducted ongoing surveys of our own OTOA members, allowing us to communicate the exact current situation to JATA’s leadership, resulting in requests for pre-payments, quicker settlements and a more flexible acceptance of payment terms, in line with the new global-norms. And, I’m grateful to report that JATA member companies have shown understanding of the need to make and speed up deposit payments due to the drastic changes in the procurement environment, indicating that they will be flexible when advance payments are necessary. We believe that this trend will continue, so kindly request continued cooperation in keeping up with it.

In closing, allow me to underscore that, this year, our members’ greatest wish is for a revival of Overseas travel. Grateful as always for your cooperation, and focusing on a spirit of “collaboration”, we look forward to working with everyone here to achieve significant growth & in 2025. I wish you all a very successful year!

Takahiko Ohata, Chairman