The executive chairman of
A recovery in domestic travel would come first once the spread of cases starts to ease and the "next question" is when
"I hope this kind of agreement can be reached later this year," Liang said from
He said that travel will continue to be a "big industry" with individual leisure travel recovering first and group tours, business travel and travel related to conferences taking longer.
The Japanese government has started discussions with
To keep customers motivated ahead of the eventual easing of travel, Liang said
The company's vouchers are not only discounted but are fully refundable with no cancellation fees and have drawn strong demand from Chinese customers, showing evidence that outbound tourism is ready to recover, Liang said.
When a program on Japanese hotels and ryokan inns was streamed live to Chinese users in mid-July, some 22,912 rooms were booked for a total of
"The beauty of the pre-sale deals is that you can lock in the discount but you don't have any risks" since vouchers are refundable, Liang said. "
He said such livestreamed promotion programs -- of one hour in length -- can also help travelers gain deeper knowledge about their destinations, while providing opportunities for hotels to pitch their charms.
"Through our broadcasts we show the properties of the hotels in very good details so the customer will learn a lot more in depth about the properties and about the destination that will increase the brand awareness among the consumers," Liang said.
"I think in our experience, this is a very effective way to promote tourism during the recovery stage and really speeds up the recovery," he said.
The chairman said such livestreamed promotion programs featuring Chinese accommodation facilities and travel destinations for Japanese customers will also be aired.
==Kyodo
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