We wrapped up our first WIT Japan, “Bridging Japan And The Travel World” on Friday with the promise of a Japan that’s rising, and a new bridge had been built.

Yes, Japan’s tourism has been stagnating for more than a decade and the tsunami of March 2011 knocked down whatever inbound business it had. But there are signs of a new sunrise. (This was our theme song for WIT Japan by the way).

Low cost airlines, in particular, are seen as exactly the stimulant that’s needed. Peter Harbison, executive chairman of Centre for Aviation (below), called it “Happy new era”. (See his presentation here) 

He said the LCC impact would be “much, much bigger than anyone expects”, affecting competition between airlines, trains and toll roads, dispersing tourism to regional centres and taking away the focus from Tokyo and change the way airports are run – there are 95 airports in Japan and all are loss-making.

Mostly, it would provide a spurt to travel ecommerce. With the innovation they bring, he said low cost airlines would stimulate web sales. Legacy airlines in Asoa, nurtured on agency relationships and high yielding passegers, have been slow to deliver user-friendly websites, he said.

Consequently, online ticket sales have lagged most other countries. With over 100 million Internet users, a highly mobile population and the highest GDP per capita of any large nation, the percentage should be much higher.

“LCCs will change all that,” he said.

He showed an example of how it took four steps to book a Peach ticket to Sapporo from Osaka but it took countless steps to book a similar itinerary on All Nippon Airways.

Yashuhiro Hoshino (left), managing director of Hoshino Resorts, said for Japan to take full advantage of the low cost stimulus, transformation had to take place among Japan’s airports. All are unprofitable and all – with the exception of Tokyo – cater to mainly Japanese customers.

He said Japan was blessed with great content – from snow to sea to ryokans, offering unique experiences. Hoshino Resorts itself is a fourth-generation family business and now has 28 properties. Japan is seeing the beginnings of ryokan alliances and groups which would make it easier for foreign travellers to find and book them online.

Agora Hospitalities, run by Aya Aso, is also building up a network of ryokans and is working on making them more accessible online to foreign customers.

The problem is, Japan has not done a good job shouting about its content and this, it needs to change. And if change cannot happen at the official tourism level – given the red tape and the under-funding of the tourism authorities – then speakers at WIT Japan said the power of the consumer must be harnessed to spread the word with social media.

Takanobu Yamamoto, TripAdvisor Japan (extreme right, picture below), said that the majority of reviews written by travellers to the country are positive. So why not empower the consumer with free wifi everywhere so they can share with their social networks?

“Everytime I come to Japan, I fall in love with it all over again,” said John Mims, vice president global sales of Las Vegas Sands. And he gave an example of the commercial done by Japanese boy band, SMAP, on top of Marina Bay Sands, which went viral and resulted in a doubling of Japanese guests to his hotel from July and August last year.

Morris Sim, CEO of Circos Brand Karma (left) cited the example of Brazil which has launched an interactive Brand Channelwebsite in partnership with Google and a new video game app called “Brasil Quest”. Given Japan’s love for mobile and gaming, this seemed a natural way to go, he said.

Masachika Akashi, regional director, Market management, Japan, South Korea, Micronesia,Expedia Japan (centre), said hoteliers’ mindset had to change. Most were focused on the domestic market and most tended to apologise for “their small rooms” when these rooms would do very well with the younger, foreign travellers who do not require luxury.

The challenge is to get all these moving parts in place and in time to take advantage of the low cost boom. But from the discussions, it was clear, whether Japan likes it or not, a change is gonna come and either it rides and manages the change or it lets change happen to it.

From the mood and conversations at WIT Japan, I sense there is a growing movement of people who want to make change happen.