Airbnb, HomeAway and Others Form International Vacation Rental Group in Japan
The big vacation rental players have formed an association in Japan, with the blessing of the Japan Tourism Agency. It may be a model for other Asian countries to follow.
It's been in the works for six months and finally a Japan Association of Vacation Rental will be incorporated in January, comprising nine founding members that aim to boost Japan's tourism through vacation rental businesses, including homesharing, ryokans that use residential facilities, and event vacation rentals.
The group comes together as Japan has been strictly enforcing rules against illegal rentals.
The association includes Agoda International Japan, Airbnb, Booking.com Japan, Ctrip International Travel Japan, HomeAway, Hyakusenrenma, Tujia Japan, Rakuten Lifull Stay and Space Market, the latter a Tokyo-based startup offering on-demand rental of unused or idle venues.
This isn't the first vacation rental association. There's the Vacation Rental Management Association in the U.S., Short Term Accommodation Associatio n in the UK, UNPLV in France and Fevitur in Spain.
But what makes the Japan association unique is that it manages to get domestic and foreign players to cooperate towards the development of the vacation rental industry in the country.
