Face to Face: Aaron Davis, Intrepid

Intrepid Travel’s Aaron Davis is operations manager in Japan and is the head tour guide for the company in the country. Travel Daily speaks to him about trends and tours in the destination, including how Intrepid has bounced back since the earthquake in the country. 

How has travel to Japan been for the past year?

It has been a tough year but the last 12 months have been better. Tourism into Japan is always seasonal in the spring and autumn and there is downtime when there is a crisis, but there has been good [recovery] management so we’ll see what will happen.

During this time we looked at how we could improve our programmes and listen to what the British want from a holiday in Japan. Staff here focused this downturn time to think about what we offer or any skills they thought they could add to a tour, and then looked at getting people back on trips. Our tour leaders were after more input into the activities so this downtime gave them the flexibility to build on a skill and be confident in passing that onto guests. We want to get our teeth into the destination and get that knowledge to pass onto travellers. Leaders can then also share that knowledge in a confident way and present to other leaders too.

How has your product changed?

Our style is to visit six different places in two weeks. The days vary between some free time to pre-arranged activities and on location days they want to see the lives of those in Japan, even if it is just seeing people washing in the back streets. Some use their free time to get inspired but a lot of customers come with a vast array of motivations, so it would be rude not to allow that.

We always fund that people turn up it is likely to be the only time they will visit Japan, so our leaders have to be an open book to what they want to learn. There are so many options such as festivals so we might change itineraries to match an event. Intrepid focuses on affordable too but the leader is prepared for all sorts of enquiries.

We have tried new itineraries for the adventurous; covering Fuji and food-focused tours. It surprises me how many repeat travellers there are with a niche such as walking tours and specialist products are still selling. We know the country well so there are tours that go way out, but the standard trips covering off-the-beaten track with iconic parts will probably not change, as it is our core product.

Have you noticed any trends in what visitors want to see?

Some want the ancient side but in the last five or six years the interest in youth culture has also really come through. Young people want to see where the bands and culture is. The average age of the customer (33) has not dropped but there are more requests for this type of culture, which often sees us step down into basements, bars, comic museums and studios to get that experience. There are more exports into the UK from Japan and some clients are already obsessed by something before they even come over so they are looking into something they normally already know the origin of.

How do you expect this year’s figures to be?

It has bounced back and we are anticipating a strong summer. Numbers on spring 2013 are also looking on the up so I’d imagine we will go back to where we were [pre-tsunami]. People are booking and this will continue to grow. We carried 1,200 a year in Japan before the tsunami which has halved but is growing.