SmartRyde, the Japanese start-up behind a global airport transfer marketplace under the same name, has published a new product, Developer Portal for API, with the aim to streamline vehicle allocation systems and methods of inventory management.
The Developer Portal for API enables online travel agencies (OTAs) and airline companies to access the airport transfer network and offer their customers airport transfer services when taking hotel reservations and flight bookings, thus helping to increase their profits.
SmartRyde’s global distribution system (GDS) connects travel agencies and other travel-related service providers such as airlines, hotels and car rental agencies around the world, which allows their customers to make real-time reservations and enables real-time ticket issuance.
In addition, SmartRyde has raised approximately 450 million yen (US$3.3 million) through the third-party allocation of shares led by NVenture Capital as well as SMBC Venture Capital, Yamaguchi Capital, Hiroshima Venture Capital, Shigagin Regional Revitalization SD Fund, and Iyogin Capital – it also obtained the subordinated loan from Japan Finance Corporation.
With this funding, SmartRyde will invest further in expanding corporate functions and building strengths of business teams as well as in product development. It also intends to increase the number of inbound tourists to Japan by utilising the OTA network of the largest scale in the country, while supporting domestic taxi operators in the aspect of profitability and to provide them with new value including streamlining and cost reduction.
His new responsibilities will include the continuation of day-to-day responsibility for planning, implementing, managing, and controlling all financial-related activities of the company, in conjunction with directing and overseeing all aspects of Finance, Group Accounting, Purchasing, Legal and Compliance functions of the organisation.
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Iriomote island in Okinawa, Japan is imposing a cap on visitors in a bid to prevent overtourism as travel returns.
Starting from this month, only 1,200 visitors are permitted to enter the island daily, equating to 33,000 annually. The local government is concerned that a rebound of tourism to pre-pandemic levels would endanger the habit of its rare and indigenous Iriomote cat.
The subtropical destination is Okinawa’s second-largest island but its population of 2,400 is concentrated around its northern and eastern shores as much of the island is covered in subtropical forest.
Its popularity was on the rise pre-pandemic, with 290,000 visitors in 2019. However, the past decade of tourism growth brought a rise in traffic accidents involving Iriomote cats.
In 2020, when the island closed to tourists, no Iriomote cats were killed on the road.
As tourists returned to the island over 2021 to 2022, eight cats were killed and several more injured, according to local government data.
Since Iriomote became part of Japan’s newest UNESCO Natural World Heritage Site (covering Amami-Oshima, Tokunoshima, northern mainland Okinawa and Iriomote) in July 2021, support has been growing to protect the habit of the islands’ rare endemic species, including the Amami rabbit and Iriomote cat.
The cat is classified as “critically endangered” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature and is designated a natural monument by the Okinawa government. An estimated 100 adult cats inhabited the island as of 2007, predominantly in its subtropical forests, making Iriomote the smallest habitat of any wild cat species in the world.
The visitor cap is designed to “minimise the effects caused by tourists on nature and the local community,” according to the Okinawan department of environment affairs, which noted that the number of island sites open to guided tours will also be limited.
Although the restrictions are not compulsory, the Okinawan government is urging travel agents to comply with them.