Nippon Travel Agency to resume hiring new graduates

The Yomiuri Shimbun

10:25 JST, December 17, 2021

Travel giant Nippon Travel Agency Co. is to resume hiring new graduates for the first time in two years.

The company did not hire new graduates for fiscal 2022 because of poor business performance caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, but it is aiming to hire about 30 new employees for the year starting April 1, 2023.

The travel agency based its decision on the belief travel demand will recover as the number of people infected with the coronavirus has remained low in the nation. The omicron variant of the virus’ impact on domestic travel is also expected to be limited.

JTB Corp., the largest travel agency in the nation, also plans to resume hiring new graduates for fiscal 2023 after suspending it for fiscal 2022.

Nippon Travel Agency posted its worst-ever net loss of ¥12.7 billion in its consolidated results for the business year ending in December 2020. The company announced structural reforms in March this year, including a 30% reduction of employees from that before the pandemic.

The travel agency hired 150 new graduates in fiscal 2020, which was then drastically reduced to 19 in fiscal 2021. No new graduates were hired for fiscal 2022.

Nippon Travel Agency has been strengthening its non-travel businesses as well. Their resuming hiring is said to be aimed, in part, at securing personnel to head event and conference management businesses.