【Record】Mr. Yasuda Tsuyoshi, Chief Rept. of JTB Corp. Beijing Office, delivers a speech on the forum of New Normal of Tourism amid COVID-19

Moderator: It's my great pleasure to have a talk with you. We have about three simple segments in this section. The first one, can you tell me in one or two minutes about you and your organization and what you expect to be involved in this conference?

Yasuda Tsuyoshi, Chief Rept. of JTB Corp. Beijing Office

Yasuda: I'm going to challenge myself today to speak in Chinese. Hello, everyone, I'm Yasuda from Beijing Office of JTB Group. It is my honor to attend this meeting. I hope to listen to the speeches of other guests, study earnestly and gain something. Founded in 1912, the JTB Group is 108 years old this year. In 1963, our company was separated from the business department of Japan Communications Corporation, a financial legal person, and privatized to establish Japan Travel Bureau. JTB is the prefix of the Company's English name. It is Japan's largest company in the tourism industry, and it is also a large world-famous tourism group company. As the main body of the enterprise, the tourism business is centered on Japan, Europe and the United States and it has also entered emerging markets in recent years. In China, centering on Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou, it is committed to developing travel business, exhibition business and consulting business. As a group, we have more than 100 companies and 27,000 employees around the world. I joined the company in 1990, and first operated all over Japan. After the establishment of JTB Tours Shanghai Co., Ltd., in 2006, I became the first general manager. Then I served as the director and president of JTB Affiliated Company in Japan. Thank you very much!

Moderator: Mr. Yasuda, how do you do? As a tourism enterprise with a history of more than 100 years, JTB has always been respected by Chinese tourism counterparts. I have two questions for you. First, from the perspective of a comprehensive tourism enterprise, how do you judge the impact of the pandemic and the development trend of tourism in the next few years? In addition, due to the impact of the pandemic, the postponement of the Tokyo Olympic Games may still be uncertain. From the perspective of tour professionals, what are your expectations and suggestions for tourism related to major events in the coming period?

Yasuda: First of all, I'll answer the first question. We can say that the COVID-19 pandemic has had a direct impact on our travel industry. Our company's mission is to promote communication and creation. In the current situation of limited mobility, both our company and the entire travel industry are going through a rough patch. Tourism involves a very wide range, including restaurants, hotels, dining halls, souvenirs and local specialty shops. The entire industry chain has been impacted beyond imagination. For the Japanese tourism market, with the response measures for COVID-19 now in place, travel is catching on, and there is a gradual recovery in the number of tourists taking short-distance trips. In July, the Japanese government launched "Go To Travel "and will soon launch "Go To Eat" in September. We hope that these policies will first drive the recovery of Japan's domestic tourism. As for the resumption of Japan's outbound tourism, it remains to be seen. Judging from the prevention and control of COVID-19, the pandemic is still expanding in some countries. We expect a vaccine and a cure to be developed as soon as possible. Hopefully, a year from now, the market will be back to normal.

On the second question, the general principle should be to promote economic recovery while focusing on prevention and control. Since June, Japan's professional baseball and football leagues have resumed playing. In July, the traditional sport of Japan Sumo Contest was also held. Japan stipulated that large-scale activities with "three close", namely closed space, closed place and close contact, should be canceled. Under the premise of good prevention and control work, various activities will be gradually resumed. In the post-COVID-19 era, online activities promote new communication between virtual reality and reality. Communication needs to be felt by people's five senses, and virtual tourism can't utterly replace offline tourism. In the end, reality is still the "king". We are trying to integrate virtual reality and reality by using modern technologies, so that the hybrid communication integrating virtual reality and reality could be realized.

As for the Tokyo Olympics, as far as things are concerned, the quadrennial event has attracted a lot of attention. For the expectation of the audience and the athletes who have made great efforts for it, as well as the relevant staff who have worked hard for the preparation of the Tokyo Olympic Games, we all hope to successfully hold the event and pass the baton of the Olympic Games to Beijing, which will host the Winter Games. That's all I'm going to say.

Moderator: Thank you, I believe everyone here, like me, would have a sense of respect and esteem. You mentioned "three close" just now, which I have heard for the first time. I don't know if anyone here has heard of the "three close" related activities. You mentioned the reality is "king", and hybrid communication is very important, which are both of great enlightenment to everybody. Thank you.

Moderator: In the final round, can each of you use three key words to summarize the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on us and the response of our industry?

Yasuda: The first word is stagnation. The development of the entire tourism industry has been stagnated due to the COVID-19. The second word is online. Going online is self-help production. The shift from offline to online is accelerating. The third one is the new normal. The new normal is a combination of the new normal of fighting against COVID-19 and the new normal of growing together with COVID-19 both online and offline.