Skip to content

Rakuten Travel seeks to bring foreign tourists to Japan’s less well-known destinations


The online travel agency hopes to draw travellers to sites off the beaten path

TDM Editor

Japanese online travel agency (OTA) Rakuten Travel aims to draw foreign travellers to Japan’s lesser-known destinations by way of its multilingual website.

The OTA hopes that the site can serve as a comprehensive travel guide focused on both popular and less-explored areas even as the Japanese government plans to bank on the increasing popularity of secondary destinations among repeat inbound tourists.

According to Rakuten Travel’s global head Jeremy Bek: “There are more hidden gems to discover, so I think people will keep coming back and keep wanting to discover Japan [on a deeper level.]”

Bek explained that up to 30 percent of international bookings at Rakuten Travel are for travels to secondary destinations, as well as nature treks and mountain climbing expeditions.

A truly comprehensive travel guide to Japan

In its present incarnation, the Rakuten Travel website is available in nine languages, including Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese and Indonesian.

It offers a guide to car rentals and a customer call service to respond to troubles encountered during travels, along with various types of authentic accommodations, including traditional ryokan inns, machiya which offer accommodations in traditional architecture, and family-run minshuku guesthouses.


Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *