Ezfly Technology Co Ltd (易飛網科技), one of the nation’s top online travel agencies, which operates Ezfly Travel Agent Co (誠信旅行社), expects revenue contributions from Japan-bound tours to rise this year, citing trends of free independent travel and the yen’s depreciation.
The company’s upbeat forecast comes as it is set to offer an additional 1,300 hotels in Japan by sharing resources with Japanese Internet travel company Time Design.
Before cooperating with Time Design, Ezfly offered choices of about 200 hotels in Japan.
“The cooperation with Time Design helped Ezfly provide a diversified choice of hotels, especially unique homestays, for Japan-bound tourists,” Ezfly general manager Ming Chen (陳明明) told a media briefing yesterday.
Japan-bound tours remain the main sales driver for Ezfly this year, Chen said, adding that the continuing depreciation of the yen is expected to attract more Taiwanese visitors to Japan.
Free independent travel, which has been flourishing over the past few years, will also maintain the momentum for Japan-bound tours, because Japan is the most popular country for Taiwanese visitors due to its safety and proximity, Chen said.
Unlike its peer Star Travel Corp (燦星國際旅行社) — which has started launching developments in physical channels — Ezfly will focus more on deepening its Internet-based service via mobile devices.
Chen said the company was scheduled to launch its own app for smartphones and tablet PCs in the first half of this year.
To strengthen brand awareness, Ezfly is considering shifting its listing to the GRETAI Securities Market in the near future from the Emerging Stock Market, where it started trading shares on Wednesday last week.
Its shares dropped 1.41 percent to close at NT$42 yesterday.
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