China's answer to Airbnb sets sights on Japan as tourism booms

Tokyo

TUJIA.COM, China's largest vacation rental platform, seeks to boost Japan listings by 10 times in two years as it vies with Airbnb to capitalise on the nation's tourism boom.

The Beijing-based startup aims to increase the number of properties available for holiday rental to about 100,000 by 2019 from 10,000 now, Tomoko Suzuki, chief executive officer of the Japanese unit, said in an interview in Tokyo.

About half the listings are owned by Chinese investors, she said, adding that Tujia may buy lodgings of its own in the future. Japan's home-sharing market is rapidly expanding after the government cleared regulatory h…