NEWS

Hello everyone!

Today, we will take a closer look at “inbound” and “outbound,” which you may be hesitant to ask about now.

Many people may think they know the actual meaning, but in fact, they may not.


The current state of inbound and outbound in each industry
From here, we will look at the current state of each industry.

Tourism Industry
According to statistics from the Japan National Tourism Organization, the number of foreign tourists visiting Japan had been increasing until 2019, before the coronavirus pandemic, but travel demand plummeted due to the spread of COVID-19.

In 2022, global travel demand has begun to recover gradually. According to the Nikkei, the number of international flight seats from Europe and the US has reached 80-90% of the 2019 average, and travel demand in Europe and the US has returned to pre-pandemic levels.

Japan has also lifted its entry restrictions imposed since 2020, with some conditions, and began accepting foreign tourists in June 2022. Although there are still some restrictions, this marks a major shift in Japan's entry restrictions, and inbound demand is expected to gradually recover.

Outbound travel, like inbound travel, declined sharply from December 2019 due to the spread of the coronavirus. It has become difficult for overseas residents to enter Japan and for Japanese people to travel abroad, and there is a great deal of attention on changes in the acceptance of foreign tourists in each country and the trends of travelers.

Call Center Industry
Call center operators handle a large number of customers, regardless of whether they are inbound or outbound. Therefore, in order to increase productivity and achieve better results, it is necessary to improve the efficiency of operations. With the recent advancements in IT technology, call center systems with functions tailored to both inbound and outbound calls have been developed. Specifically, these include features such as automatic response systems to prevent customers from waiting and automatic dialing systems to reduce downtime during telemarketing calls. Other tools have also been developed to streamline operations, such as CRM tools for centralized customer information management and chatbot tools for handling frequent inquiries. To streamline operations, it is necessary to select and implement IT systems tailored to the characteristics of each call center.

Challenges for inbound tourism in the tourism industry
From here, we will focus on the tourism industry and consider the challenges of inbound tourism. As the resumption of foreign visitors is expected to gradually restore inbound demand, various challenges are being raised. There are challenges related to the acceptance system, such as cashless payments and communication infrastructure, but among these, multilingual support is an important challenge in order to ensure that foreign tourists can enjoy their stay without stress.

According to the results of the “Survey on the Improvement of Reception Environments for Inbound Tourists,” issues such as “lack of multilingual signage or unclear signage” and “inability to communicate with staff at facilities” were among the top concerns cited by tourists during their trips. While these challenges are gradually being addressed, there is still room for improvement.


What do you think?

This information may be helpful for those considering starting a business in Japan.

Stay tuned for the next installment!


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