On July 18, the Japan Association of Travel Agents (JATA, Chairman Hiroyuki Takahashi = Chairman of JTB) held a press conference at the JATA training room in Kasumigaseki, Tokyo, where Chairman Takahashi spoke once again about compliance efforts, expressing his determination to "steadily implement them and eliminate fraudulent cases from the travel industry, thereby restoring the trust of society." At JATA, several scandals were discovered, including some member companies accepting COVID-19-related contracts from the national and local governments, fraudulent claims for employment adjustment subsidies, and collusion. In response to these incidents, a committee of experts consisting of five lawyers was established in December 2023 to prevent recurrence and is working on remedial measures. In April of this year, a compliance promotion office was established, and disciplinary regulations were established in May. From July onwards, various compliance training programs are scheduled to be held, including public service contracts and training for managers. In addition to Chairman Takahashi, three vice-chairmen attended the press conference, and introduced the current situation and future efforts of domestic travel, overseas travel, and travel to Japan according to their areas of expertise. Regarding domestic travel, Vice Chairman Kotani Yoshimitsu (president of Nippon Travel Agency) reported that while the number of overnight stays has recovered to the same level as before COVID-19 and the amount of domestic travel spending by Japanese people is higher than before COVID-19, the amount of travel handled by travel agencies has not recovered. "Unfortunately, the number of major travel agencies handling travel is not as high as it was in 2019. In addition to the reduction in stores and employees due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we recognize that we are not able to fully respond to the market, such as the acceleration of direct sales by OTAs and transportation agencies," he said, adding that each company is racking their brains to plan and sell valuable products. In addition, regarding overtourism, which is a problem in some regions in domestic travel, including inbound tourism, which is booming, Kotani pointed out the need for public and private efforts to promote weekday travel, such as encouraging people to take vacations and working on "l'cation," which combines learning with vacations. Regarding overseas travel, Vice Chairman Jun Sakai (President of Hankyu Travel International) explained that the overseas travel transaction amount of the 43 major companies in January-May 2024 was only about 60% of that of 2019, and stated his recognition that "This year started as the first year of the complete recovery of overseas travel under the banner of the 60th anniversary of the liberalization of overseas travel, but the path to a complete recovery is not yet visible." He said that the recovery is particularly slow in the field of personal leisure, and stated, "The main factor is the high cost of travel. Airfares, local hotel fees, food costs, etc. are all rising, and the yen is also weak. As a travel company, we want to solve this by providing products that travelers are satisfied with." He predicted that overseas travel during the summer vacation will be about 80% of the pre-COVID level.