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The surging demand for travel to Japan

There is definitely a growing demand for Japan as a destination, says Monaz Billimoria, Regional Head – UAE, VFS Global

Centrally located and well-connected to all parts of the world, Dubai is a hub for all global businesses, including ours; Dubai is VFS Global’s headquarters. The UAE offers businesses and individuals an unparallelled opportunity to explore and grow professionally.

This opportunity brings in people from all over the world and all walks of life, and this is where the impact on VFS Global comes in. A visa being something most countries’ nationals need to travel abroad, means more people from across the globe coming to our centres when they need a visa for any of the countries we serve here.

There is definitely a growing demand for Japan as a destination. The expo in Osaka is set to give travel to Japan a strong impetus, and we expect higher travel demand ahead of that. The Sakura season is another time of year we expect to see increased interest from travellers. The stabilised Yen has made Japan a more affordable destination, increasing its aspirational value among travellers. We are seeing a steady rise in Japan visa applications; in fact we are doubling our appointment slots in December to accommodate the increasing demand, and aim to triple it by March 2025.

A reassuring trend has been an increased number of travellers now applying for their visas well in advance. Increased demand for international travel has put pressure on available appointments for visas, especially from traditionally popular destinations, and planning well ahead and giving the visa process the same priority a customer would give airline or hotel booking helps immensely in catering to the volumes.

Outsourcing in the visa sector has grown immensely over the years because it not just ensures high efficiency at zero cost to majority of governments but also provides a highly secure, reliable, and seamless solutions to the travellers. Additionally, governments are increasingly exploring digital visas as part of their efforts to streamline and modernise their visa application processes, with the aim of making the process more efficient and convenient.

VFS Global acknowledges and welcomes this shift towards digital visas. Our experience in developing robust eVisa platforms for 10 sovereign governments showcases our commitment to innovation and our ability to adapt to evolving digital landscapes. Added to this is the Japan eVisa service, through which we accept eVisa applications on behalf of the Japan Ministry of Foreign Affairs as of 1 September 2024. Eligible travellers can now come to VFS Global for assistance with their Japan eVisa applications to complete the application process without submitting their passports. Our team will scan the passport and return the same to the applicant, and collect the supporting documents to submit to the ministry officials. The eVisa is sent directly to the applicant once a decision has been made.

Embracing the digital shift is at the core of our strategy. Over the last 10+ years VFS Global has been partnering with and supporting its client governments by building more than 16 unique digital products and solutions that make the visa application and processing secure, seamless and efficient.

We foresee the demand for travel continuing to grow in the next few years, both leisure and business. Travel has now moved from being a luxury to a necessity as more and more people look to taking that international sojourn to learn about new places and have new experiences, and Japan will be one of the fastest growing destinations for travellers from the UAE and around the world.