SME travel between Australia and Tokyo up over 2500%

The latest Corporate Traveller data has revealed SME travel between Australia and Japan’s Tokyo has increased dramatically since borders reopened and COVID restrictions were lifted last year.

Insights showed that flight bookings between Australia and Tokyo in the time period of 01 July 2019-28 February 2020 and 01 July 2022-29 February 2023 leapt by more than 2,700 per cent – a sure sign that the Japanese capital was now a destination of choice for SMEs in the Southern Hemisphere.

According to the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Japan was Australia’s third-largest trading partner in 2020, with two-way goods and services trade valued at AUD$66.3 billion. Japan was Australia’s second-largest export market, valued at AUD$46.4 billion in 2020, accounting for 10.6 per cent of total exports.

“Japanese SMEs accounted for 99.7 per cent of all businesses and employed 32 million individuals, or approximately 68.8 per cent of the private sector labour force, in 2016 – Aussie SMEs have realised the potential,” global MD, Corporate Traveller, Tom Walley, said.

“What the pandemic has done is give SME businesses a real chance to take a step back and evaluate where they want to business, who they want to do it with, and it’s clear the rush has been to Japan – Tokyo in particular – and it’s exciting to see what the results will be.

“It’s well-known that Japanese buyers are drawn to premium, high-end goods and services that offer a high return on trade investment – the country is also known for innovation and quality – so there are an awful lot of parallels between Aussie SMEs and the Japanese.

“SMEs are the backbone of the Australian economy and as of June 2022, make up 99.8* per cent of all Aussie businesses – with the leading industry in 2021-22 being agriculture, forestry, and fishing* – it’s no surprise with borders open and restrictions lifted, that they are looking to expand business.

“The labour market is the tightest it has been in recent history, so looking further afield for talent is something that is becoming more and more prominent. The other trend we’ve seen is the strong return of meetings, events, and conferences, with Tokyo always an historical favourite for corporates.

“There has also been a strong swing to ‘bleisure’ travel in recent times, and with Japanese borders opening a lot later than some of the other advanced economies across the globe, it could well be that our savvy SMEs are combining valuable meetings with a holiday.”

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