Japan’s business events market can expect more domestic incentives, shorter conferences and an uptick in high-tech hybrid events this year as companies reduce travel budgets, according to corporate travel management solutions company FCM.
Even as global travel continues to open up, with greater availability of flights and further easing of Covid-19 restrictions, Japanese companies are opting to stay home.
“As the market is currently cost-conscious, overseas incentive trips are down as they are considered a luxury. Domestic incentive trips are rather robust, with outbound travel budget reallocated to domestic trips,” Asami Chung, general manager of Japan at FCM, told TTGmice.
However, Chung expects an increase in overseas incentive trips “once the economy stabilises”.
For now, “virtual internal meetings are still being embraced as they reduce costs,” she said. But FCM is seeing rebound in business conferences and trips, although the demand is for shorter options.
“Pre-Covid, an average business trip would be five to seven days but recent requests are generally for three to four days,” she noted.
This trend is also noticeable throughout Asia-Pacific, and organisations are showing more interest in shorter meetings and staying within the region, according to FCM’s Meetings & Events 2023 Trends Report. Chung attributes this to “an increase in the cost of business travel at a time when business budgets are tight and employees are working at capacity”.
Other factors are also expected to curb the rebound in business events throughout 2023.
“Travel constraints, capacity issues, labour shortages, supply chain issues and travel disruptions are all easing, but they are not expected to fully stabilise until 2024,” she noted.
Interestingly, hybrid events remain on the rise in Japan.
“We see a continuation of hybrid conferences of a much higher quality, to promote better engagement with both in-person and virtual attendees. Disruptive technology is reshaping hybrid events at a rapid pace, driven by the need to step up during the pandemic,” said Chung.
