TOKYO: Japan’s travel industry is offering new services that allow customers to take their pets with them on holiday.

While the number of people keeping pets has been rising amid the COVID-19 pandemic, many pet owners find it difficult to take trips far from home due to their pets.

Viewing the dilemma as a business opportunity, the industry has come up with ideas, hoping that new services will help the industry achieve a business turnaround.

As pets usually need to be kept inside the cargo hold during flights, many pet owners are anxious about air travel with their pets.

In late March, Japanese airline Star Flyer launched a new service that allows passengers to take small dogs and cats in cages with them into the aircraft cabin.

For the new service, available on flights connecting Tokyo International Airport at Haneda and Kitakyushu Airport in Fukuoka Prefecture, southwestern Japan, Star Flyer pays the utmost attention to hygiene, requiring owners to have their dogs and cats wear diapers in the cabin.

The airline will consider expanding the service to other flight routes, depending on customer responses.

Unicharm Corp., which makes pet diapers, will work with Star Flyer and Fukuoka-based travel agency Happy Travel Co. to offer a three-day trip departing Tokyo in late May that will allow participants to visit sightseeing spots around the Kyushu southwestern region with their dogs.

According to a survey by Unicharm, around 40 percent of dog owners are hesitant to travel far from home with their dogs.

“We hope to expand areas where pets can be taken to newly include restaurants and amusement facilities,” a Unicharm senior official said.

In late February, hotel operator Sumitomo Fudosan Villa Fontaine Co. opened a new hotel in Tokyo to accommodate people wanting to stay with their dogs.

The “inumo” hotel, located near Shiba Park in Minato Ward, has a dog-friendly restaurant and a dog run, as well as pet toilets in hotel rooms.

“We’ve seen an increase in reservations ahead of the (Golden Week) holiday period,” an official at the hotel said. “Many of our guests are visiting Tokyo with their dogs to attend weddings and other events.”

According to commercial sales statistics released by the industry ministry, pet and pet-related sales rose 8.2 percent from the previous year in Japan in 2020, when the novel coronavirus started to spread there. The upward trend continued in 2021.

“There was a rise in the number of people getting pets to seek comfort from animals,” a ministry official said.

JIJI Press