Despite being a shocker of a year the 2011 March disasters in Japan are now behind us, and the Japanese outbound market has been buoyant from August last year onwards.
Aviation news
With a growing 40% online travel market and now the introduction of LCC carriers such as Jetstar Japan, bilateral traffic from both countries is expected to increase significantly.
On the ground
Tourism Australia is now concentrating its Japanese tourism efforts on Australian Tourism Exchange in Perth during 2012, forgoing the traditional February or September in region sales mission of year’s past.
Wholesalers/ITOs centralize
Within Australia there is a move by major wholesalers/ITOs to consolidate their Australian operations now into one local office – normally Sydney.