This year’s WIT Japan & North Asia Start-Up Pitch is open to any entrepreneur looking to leverage on and disrupt the largest and fastest growing travel market in Asia.
Said Yeoh Siew Hoon, founder and editor of WIT, “China’s outbound travel is at inflexion point, Taiwan was the fastest growing inbound destination in the world last year, Hong Kong is seeing interesting start-up activity, online travel in South Korea is seeing fast traction and Japan saw a nearly 30% growth in inbound arrivals in 2014, according to the latest JNTO figures.
“North Asia travel is ripe for disruption. Low cost airlines now account for just about 10% of total air capacity in the region – imagine the potential for growth in terms of stimulating the market – and how they will change the way people book and travel.”
“This is why we have expanded the scope of our WIT Bootcamp and Start-Up Pitch in Tokyo to cover entrepreneurs across the region.”
Kei Shibata, CEO and co-founder of Venture Republic, who is helping WIT organise its third Bootcamp in Tokyo, said North Asia was seeing a pick-up in start-up activity in the tech and travel sectors.
In 2014, Japan saw 80 new IPOs, the highest number in seven years and more than 40 were tech-related. “We are entering the biggest time for entrepreneurs in Japan’s history,” said Shibata.
“Alibaba’s record breaking IPO in 2014 also points to the enormous potential of China’s entrepreneurship while Korea, with the highest penetration of mobile internet, has started pushing entrepreneurship as a nation-wide initiative.”
“We are excited to see the new start-ups who are determined to disrupt one of the world’s largest regional travel markets – Japan and North Asia.”
The Start-Up Pitch will be held during the Bootcamp on June 4 and finalists will go on to present at the fourth WIT Japan & North Asia the following day where a winner will be selected.
The judging panel is being assembled and judges will be looking out for original and commercially viable ideas and effective teams that can execute. Details for submissions can be found here. The deadline for entries is April 17.
The fourth WIT Japan & North Asia, to be held at Hotel Nikko, is taking place at a golden time in Japan’s tourism.
The lifting of visa restrictions on South-east Asian markets has led to a fillip in visitors, ending 2014 with a 29.4% growth in foreign visitors. The fastest growth market was China which grew by 83.3%. The top three markets are Taiwan with 2,829,800 visitors (28% growth), South Korea with 2,755,300 (12.2%) and China contributed a total of 2,409,200 visitors.
