Japan Airlines (JAL) has introduced a limited time offer, giving international travellers free domestic flights to discover more of the land of the rising sun.
Currently, the offer only applies to a limited number of countries, on specific days. To claim the promotion, passengers have to book their “complimentary domestic flights to any destination within Japan” in the same reservation as their JAL international flight to Japan. Travellers who book separate domestic flights are not eligible for claiming the offer.
For most travellers, what the promo means is that they travel to a hub in Japan, discover their destination city for a while, then have a free flight to another location without any extra charges. The only exception is for passengers from US, Canada, Mexico and China, who have to pay a stopover fee of $100 if they time between their international and domestic flight is more than 24 hours. For all other eligible countries, there is no stopover fee.
The airline announced the promotion in a press release on 13 September, with some of the eligible dates having already passed. It is unclear at the time of writing whether or not people from those specific countries had other advertising for the offer and took advantage of it. There are still several dates available:
| Departing country | Available date |
|---|---|
| US, Canada, Mexico | 10 September |
| Thailand | 11 September |
| Singapore | 18 September |
| Australia, New Zealand | 19 September |
| Vietnam, Philippines | 25 September |
| Indonesia, India, China, Taiwan | 27 September |
Through this promotion, the carrier aims to encourage international travellers to discover more of Japan, through its extensive domestic network, serving 64 airports and 133 routes, including codeshare flights. This aligns with the national tourism mission of attracting more visitors while spreading footfall to lesser known, but equally enchanting destinations.
Despite overtourism concerns and multiple measures being taken at various spots, tourism commissioner Ichiro Takahashi aims to more than double the number of visitors the country gets, from 25 million tourists a year to 60 million. Part of the strategy will be diversification and spreading footfall, with efforts to divert tourists from some of the most overwhelmed attractions, towards lesser-known regions and undiscovered gems
Meanwhile, tourist taxes have been introduced at famous shrines, and charges have been brought in at Mount Fuji’s most popular walking trails. Night spot districts in Tokyo are seeing street drinking restrictions and barriers are being put up at beauty spots to deter over-zealous photographers. Rules about etiquette around geishas have had to be posted on some Japanese streets.
