Meet Kei Shibata, Chapter Leader of Japan

This week in our Leader of the Pack series we meet Kei Shibata, chapter leader of Travel Massive Tokyo and Singapore. Kei is running Japan’s largest online travel metasearch business – Travel.jp and Hotel.jp (11 million monthly sessions combined) under Venture Republic Inc., which was co-founded by Kei in 2001. Kei is taking initiatives to lead the company to the global market through a number of investments and acquisitions. He is an angel investor in tech and travel, and also served as co-founder/organizer of WIT (Web In Travel) Japan.

How did you first get involved with Travel Massive?

Ian (the founder) is my good “mate” – that’s Aussie for “good friend” since he’s Australian.

What motivates you to be part of Travel Massive?

Travel Massive brings together motivated travel professionals who love their industry and want to actively participate in the evolution of travel. I am glad and honored to share this beautiful journey with such a lively community!

What kinds of current or emerging startups, travel companies, and tourism initiatives exist? 

The Japanese travel industry is very diverse and powerful, but until recent years it was only targeted toward the Japanese market. Japan’s travel industry contributes to creating a very specific market, much more influenced by “brick and mortar” travel agencies than what we have observed throughout the rest of the world. However, the market is now building partnerships with companies who provide Japanese users new ways of travelling through the use of Internet. Relux, Trippiece, Voyagin and Sotoasobi are all examples of new companies who are currently thriving in Japan. Our Travel Massive events mix this new generation of tech-savvy entrepreneurs, with more “traditional” companies, as we believe they have a lot to learn from each other.

How has Travel Massive helped you professionally?

Through the participation in Travel Massive, I have received the opportunity to communicate all about our new products at Travel.jp and Hotel.jp, which is also helping to target the English-speaking travel market as well.

Do you have a past event that was your favourite?

I really enjoyed the presentation given at our last event by Booking.com. I was also very honored to participate as a speaker at the event. Tokyo Travel Massive held the event in August and was hosted by our company Venture Republic.

What is your best advice to a newcomer who wants to attend a Travel Massive event for the first time?

If you are interested in learning more about the travel industry, in addition to contributing to improving the way the world travels, you have found the right place! 

Leader of the pack is a weekly series that profiles organizers from Travel Massive meet-ups around the world. You can follow Kei on Twitter and Travel Massive.