China’s Airbnb Sets Sights on Japan

http://daviddawei.com/chinas-airbnb-sets-sights-japan/

Tujia.com, China’s largest vacation rental platform, seeks to increase the number of listings in Japan tenfold in two years as it vies with Airbnb Inc. to capitalize on the nation’s tourism boom.

The Beijing-based startup aims to increase the number of properties available for holiday rental to about 100,000 by 2019 from 10,000 now, said Tomoko Suzuki, chief executive officer of the company’s Japanese unit. About half of the listings are owned by Chinese investors, she said, adding that Tujia may buy lodgings of its own in the future.

Japan’s home-sharing market is rapidly expanding after the government cleared regulatory hurdles earlier this year and as record tourist arrivals put a strain on the hotel industry. Suzuki said Japan’s relatively low land prices will give Chinese investors an incentive to purchase properties that Tujia can add to its listings.

“Real estate in Tokyo, Osaka and Kyoto is cheap compared with Shanghai and Beijing and Chinese interest in property investment is strong,” said Suzuki. Some investors own as many as 100 rooms, sometimes whole apartment buildings, and they lease to local tenants as well as tourists through the Tujia platform, she said.

Visitors to Japan rose 18 percent to 18.9 million in the first eight months of the year, on course to beat 2016’s record 24 million, Japan National Tourism Organization data show. The country hosted more than 800,000 Chinese in August alone — the most ever for a single month.

Tujia charges owners 3 percent of their accommodation rates, which are typically about 15,000 yen (US$130) to 20,000 yen a night, Suzuki said. The firm arranges more than 56,000 stays a day on a group basis, she said, declining to comment on how many of those are in Japan.