Best One Dot Com Inc. <6577> is a leading marine technology business and operates the online cruise reservation site "Best One Cruise", which boasts the largest number of courses in the industry specializing in cruise travel. In addition, its subsidiary operates "Five Star Cruise", which specializes in luxury cruise ships and high-end cruises, as well as the operation of "Ebisu Ryokan" in Kyoto.
Best One Cruise primarily targets individual customers and sells tickets for overseas and domestic cruises, as well as package tours. It also offers various travel products necessary for cruise travel, such as airline tickets, hotels, transfers, and optional tours. In addition to tickets and in-house products, reservations for tours offered by partner travel companies can also be made. The customer base consists mainly of families and couples in their 40s to 60s, rather than the senior generation (70s to 80s) that is the main target of travel companies, and there is a high percentage of repeat customers. New customers are also being acquired steadily through web channels and event seminars. Despite the decrease in Japanese departure cruises due to the pandemic, the company is currently offering cruises for residents of Japan.
The cumulative revenue for the third quarter of the fiscal year ending in 2024 was 2.023 billion yen, an increase of 2.8 times compared to the same period of the previous year, and operating income turned into a profit of 43 million yen. The handling volume for the third quarter (February to April) was 772 million yen, which is 2.5 times higher than the previous year's fiscal year and a record high for handling volume in the third quarter. It seems that strong demand was captured for MSC Virtuosa Yokohama and Golden Week, and the operating profit in April reached a record high of over 100 million yen. In addition, both the number of users and the number of sessions for "Best One Cruise" increased rapidly in April, and various attractive campaigns were launched, centering on cruises departing from Japan.
In addition, the reservation orders are strong, and the monthly reservation order amount for July reached a record high of 294,336 thousand yen, with reservations piling up for MSC Virtuosa Tokyo, Naha, and Diamond Princess cruises in 2025. Reservations for the two Japanese ships, Nippon Maru and MITSUI OCEAN FUJI, have started, contributing to an increase in reservation order amount. The company is expecting sales of 3,000-3,250 million yen, which is 2.3-2.4 times higher than the previous year, and operating profit of 250-300 million yen (compared to 190 million yen in the previous year).
Oriental Land Co., Ltd. <4661> has decided to expand its business to include Disney cruises in Japan, attracting attention to the cruise market. In Japan, cruises are often associated with high prices, but many cruises operated worldwide are casual cruises. The percentage of the population in the United States and the United Kingdom that represents the number of cruise travelers for a year is about 3%, while in Japan, it is only 0.2%. The low number of cruise travelers in Japan is attributed to the perception of high prices and the lack of Japanese departure cruises. However, Japanese departure cruises, including those offered by the company, are increasing, and prices have also decreased due to the size efficiency of the ships. The market size has the potential to expand rapidly. In this situation, the company plans to further increase the supply of Japanese departure cruises. It also aims to recover the demand for cruises to Japan, which was present even before the pandemic, and aims for a growth rate of 25-35% through the expansion and share-up of the cruise market. In addition to cruises, the company is also planning to release an online-based domestic travel reservation site and expand its travel technology business, as well as enter the financial technology business as a new area. As the company's performance is expected to grow significantly, it is important to pay attention to its developments along with the expansion of the market environment.