What is Inbound Measures? Explanation from Types to Multilingual Support Points and Examples of Initiatives!

1. What is Inbound Measures? Explanation of Types

 

1-1. What is Inbound Measures?

Inbound measures refer to all initiatives aimed at foreign visitors to Japan. The goal is to improve the convenience of domestic stores and services, promote their use, prevent lost opportunities, and enhance customer satisfaction. It is not just about accepting foreign tourists, but about providing a comfortable experience and implementing strategic efforts to gain repeat customers and new clients through word of mouth.

1-2. Main Types of Inbound Measures

Effective inbound measures include the following initiatives.

・Multilingual support: Multilingualization of signs, menus, brochures, etc.
・Placement of staff who can speak foreign languages: Facilitation of communication
・Provision of services to experience Japanese culture: Kimono experience, tea ceremony experience, etc.
・Support for cashless payments: Credit cards, electronic money, QR code payments, etc.

By combining these measures, more effective inbound strategies can be achieved.

2. Trends in the Inbound Market

 

2-1. Inbound is Increasing

The total number of foreign visitors to Japan in 2024 has reached approximately 36.86 million, marking a growth rate of about 47% compared to the previous year. This rapid increase is expected to continue, further emphasizing the importance of inbound measures.

2-2. Shift from Quantity to Quality

As many companies and facilities have reached a certain level of inbound measures, it is now required not only to prepare acceptance systems but also to provide higher quality services. It is important to enhance the satisfaction of each foreign tourist and aim to increase the spending per customer.

2-3. Promotion of Digital Marketing

Digital marketing utilizing SNS and websites is rapidly advancing. From information gathering before visiting Japan, searching for information during the stay, to posting reviews after returning home, the importance of digital channels is increasing, making multilingual support essential to address these needs.

3. Benefits of Multilingual Support as an Inbound Strategy

 

Multilingual support is a particularly important measure in inbound strategies. It offers the following specific benefits.

3-1. Leads to Increased Browsing Rate and Sales

By removing language barriers, foreign tourists can freely navigate within the facility, leading to longer stays and increased purchasing opportunities.

3-2. Improving Customer Satisfaction

Providing information in the native language enhances comfort and reassurance, significantly improving overall customer satisfaction.

3-3. Expanding the Reach

By supporting multiple languages, you can approach tourists from more countries and regions, enabling the development of new customer segments.

3-4. Improving Competitiveness

Comprehensive multilingual support differentiates you from competitors and enhances your competitiveness as a preferred facility or service.

4. Key Points for Successful Multilingual Support in Inbound Measures

 

4-1. Strengthen Multilingualization of Outgoing Information

It is important to establish a system that efficiently enables the multilingualization of existing Japanese guides and brochures. Instead of translating everything into multiple languages at once, prioritizing and proceeding step-by-step allows for cost-effective and efficient multilingualization.

4-2. Consider Multilingual Support for the Website

Modern foreign tourists typically gather information on websites before visiting Japan. By making websites multilingual, it is possible to establish contact with customers even before their visit, increasing the likelihood of store visits and service use.

4-3. Implement measures to enhance the value of services for inbound customers

Not only translation itself, but also improving services and developing new ones tailored to the needs of foreign tourists is important. By understanding cultural differences and providing services suited to the characteristics of each country and region, higher satisfaction can be achieved.

5. Examples of Multilingual Initiatives for Inbound Measures

 

5-1. Review of signboards and others based on the "Guidelines for Improvement and Enhancement of Multilingual Support toward Realizing a Tourism-Oriented Nation"

By promoting multilingual signage and guidance based on government-established guidelines, it is possible to achieve clear and consistent displays. Utilizing pictograms and adopting simple, easy-to-understand expressions enables information to be conveyed beyond language barriers.

5-2. Translation of Existing Word Documents and Emails Using Translation Tools

By utilizing translation tools such as MTrans for Office, existing Word documents and PDFs can be efficiently multilingualized. This enables quick multilingual support for menus, explanatory materials, contracts, and more, allowing for rapid response while keeping costs down. Additionally, by machine-translating sent and received emails, smooth handling of inquiries and requests from foreign tourists becomes possible.

5-3. Multilingual Manuals for Foreign Staff

As the hiring of foreign staff increases, multilingualization of operational manuals is an important issue. Providing manuals in their native languages deepens their understanding of tasks and leads to improved service quality. Additionally, it is expected to enable foreign staff to respond more appropriately to foreign tourists.

6. Summary

Multilingual support in inbound measures is expected to become increasingly important in the future. By continuously improving and listening to the voices of foreign tourists, truly valuable inbound strategies can be realized. However, it is also true that multilingualization requires time and cost.

One tool to pay attention to is the add-in software "MTrans for Office," which allows you to easily translate documents and emails within Office applications such as Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook. In the tourism industry, this tool is useful in the following situations.

・Creation of accommodation guides and in-house service manuals for hotels and inns
・Restaurant menus and ingredient descriptions
・Brochures and event information for tourist facilities
・Responding to inquiry emails from foreign tourists
・Multilingual customer service manuals for staff

By utilizing MTrans for Office, you can perform translation tasks directly from the Office applications you use daily, enabling speedy and efficient multilingual support without requiring special technical knowledge. This allows those in the tourism industry to dedicate more time to improving the quality of the services they should primarily focus on. The success of inbound measures depends on the effective use of appropriate tools and continuous improvement. Let’s make good use of convenient tools like MTrans for Office to provide foreign tourists with a comfortable and memorable stay in Japan.

MTrans for Office offers a 14-day free trial. Please give it a try.