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Case Study

“Furusa-Travel" Service Promotes Tourism through Hometown Tax: Focus on Speed Leads to Unexpected Service Expansion

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Case Study

“Furusa-Travel” Service Promotes Tourism through Hometown Tax: Focus on Speed Leads to Unexpected Service Expansion

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CHECK POINT

  • “Furusa-Travel", in which Marubeni created a new web site related to Hometown Tax, lets tourist accommodations to participate directly in the hometown tax system.
  • Focusing strongly on speed led to a service that is easy to operate and easy to expand.
  • Nationwide network contributes to growth of Marubeni’s tourism business.

Revitalizing Local Region through a Combination of Hometown Tax System and Domestic Tourism

The Hometown Tax (Furusato Nozei) system, established in 2008 by Japanese government, has rapidly increased the number of users since the Great East Japan Earthquake in 2011. It is a donation system which you can donate to the municipality of your preference other than your residence, and a part of your donation amount is deducted from your income tax and inhabitant tax. In return for this donation, a local made item (in a form of foods or other goods) is presented to the donator. By FY2022, it became clear that the system has become a mainstream, with the number of users exceeding 8.9 million and donations to local municipalities reaching 1.0 trillion Yen (6.7 billion U.S. Dollars).

The Hometown Tax system is commonly used by municipalities in areas such as Hokkaido to promote local made products such as delicacies, but more regions stand to benefit economically if the system could be expanded to local municipalities related with tourism resources. Up to now, Marubeni has approached through decarbonization and digital transformation to tackle social issues and regional revitalization. The solution became clear and Marubeni launched Furusa-Travel which is a service that integrates the settlement of hotel accommodation with the Hometown Tax System.

Furusa-Travel is a portal website that allows users to easily operate and use the Hometown Tax system at tourist facilities such as ryokan (or traditional style hotel) and golf courses. On the portal website, users can select a Hometown Tax payment plan with the facility of their preference and donate to their local municipality with a payment, and receive on the spot an electronic coupon as a gift. Donator can then allot this coupon to settle their lodging or other expenses by presenting this to the front desk at the facility. Currently some 400 facilities nationwide, mainly ryokan (or traditional style hotel) , have already started this system and plans to expand this up to 1,000 facilities by March, 2025.

Unmatchable Sense of Speed to Launch in Just Two Months

Marubeni mostly focused on speed when launching this service. This portal website was launched within only two to three months after the green light to start. This rapid rollout was possible by working closely with flexibility together with partner companies. As a result, Marubeni was able to expand its business faster than others in the same sector, succeeding in a broader business impact.

Speed and flexibility is not only for the startup of this service but is also the characteristic of Furusato-Travel itself. For example, when looking this from a UI/UX perspective, the elimination to process a membership registration and prioritize convenience enables the donation to be completed in 3minutes at site which is a huge merit from a user’s point of view. Establishing a membership system for this type of platform service and collecting personal information is common but Furusa-Travel decided not to hurdle users and in turn makes this exceptionally convenient.

Furthermore, in October 2023 by entering in a Partnership Agreement with Japan Ryokan and Hotel Association has accelerated the expansion of expected facilities. This association not only has 2,500 affiliates throughout Japan but also has a strong network with local Onsen (hot spring) Associations and Tourism Associations which means that it can outspread to more than 2,500 affiliates. This cooperation did not realize overnight but rather as a result of repetitious visits to local ryokans and participating in local meetings with numerous follow up communication. Especially after the Coronavirus disaster, although daily business using online tool became a daily life where everything is digital, one can say that the analog-like traditional approach was a good example for this big success.

Marubeni’s Accumulated Trust and Network Fuels Business

The brand image of Marubeni also played a major role in contributing to the fast start up. Marubeni with its long history and tradition as well as having developed a unique nationwide network, is able to bypass some time, effort and cost in order to establish trust as compared to a startup. Additionally, being involved in a wide variety of fields such as mobility, power generation, apparel, Marubeni’s big strength is to collaborate with various parties as per its image.

While Furusa-Travel service targets domestic tourists, the recent rise of inbound tourism means that the tourism industry as a whole is still expected to grow in the future. While continuing to support this growth there will be a requirement to create new business other than Furusa-Travel.

The network built through Furusa-Travel will be valuable and meaningful when considering to further move forward into the tourism industry. Phrases like Digital transformation and digital solution often brings to mind state of the art , highly functional services that utilize AI and IoT but these are not the only ways to use digital technology. Furusa-Travel demonstrates the potential for flexible use of digital technology beyond just ordinary digital transformation.

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