InsideJapan carried around 2,000 guests across its self-guided trips and small group tours during the cherry blossom season over mid-March and early April.

Earlier this year, the operator decided to pause new bookings for travel between April and June to make sure it could properly service soaring demand.

Inside Travel Group’s head of sales Vivienne Boyack said that despite the decision to halt bookings, and “some difficulties” around flight availability, the company had equalled its busiest blossom season, with 30% of sales coming through the trade.

“It felt that Japan was more popular than ever this year as certain places in Tokyo and Kyoto were very busy with what seemed to be mainly international tourists, said the company’s Japan-based head of operations, Tyler Palma.

“Spring really is a beautiful time of year, but places such as Kyoto were really very busy. However, we are fortunate that we are our own DMC and we are free to move well away from the crowds and the guide books to ensure that the Japan experience remains special,” added Palma.

InsideJapan said it was seeing an increasing number of families booking for the summer, with Boyack revealing bookings for travel this October were already forecast to pass the company’s record year of 2019, which was fuelled by demand around the Rugby World Cup.

“We are very confident Japan’s popularity is not going to be a short-lived trend as spring timed small group tours and self-guided Adventures are already selling for 2024 and beyond,” added Boyack, who urged agents to speak to customers interested in next year’s cherry blossom “as soon as possible”.