Changing of the Guard: Japan Cedes Title as Asia's Largest Travel Market

Japan's dominance as Asia Pacific's largest travel market has come to an end, marking a major milestone for the region as an emerging China assumes the top spot. Following over a decade of economic stagnation, Japan's recovery from the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami has been sluggish, and the country's overall travel market growth will slow to 2% by 2015, according to a new Phocuswright report. Yet Japan's online leisure/unmanaged business travel market, by far APAC's largest, will sustain double-digit growth through 2014.

"Japan's travel industry has endured numerous challenges to growth for some time now, but the country's substantial online travel market should not be written off," said Douglas Quinby, senior director, research. "In fact, by 2015, the value of Japan's online travel gross bookings will still be more than double that of China."

Air is Japan's fastest-growing travel segment, as the emergence of several low-cost airline carriers (LCCs), some backed by local legacy players, helps to spur air travel demand. In the online arena, supplier websites – aided by LCC gains – will grow faster than online travel agencies through 2015.

Phocuswright's Japan Online Travel Overview provides market sizing and forecasts for Japan's total and online leisure/unmanaged business travel markets from 2010-2015. In addition, the report discusses the key trends and developments shaping Japan's travel and tourism industry.

Report highlights include:

• Total market and online leisure/unmanaged business travel bookings for 2010-2015
• Bookings by major travel product segment – air, hotel, rail and car rental – along with analysis of segment drivers and dynamics
• Comparison of supplier-branded websites and online travel agencies (OTAs), including key players, bookings and projected growth rates through 2015
• Role of traditional travel agencies and tour operators
• Analysis of the OTA landscape – local versus global players, business models and segment performance
• Impact of mobile, search, metasearch and social

Purchase Phocuswright's Japan Online Travel Overview for a comprehensive look at Japan's unique and complex travel marketplace.