Major Japanese travel agency H.I.S. Co. has launched sales of hygiene-related home electronics in Thailand via its networks in the tourism sector, diversifying its business amid a slowdown in travel demand on the global coronavirus pandemic.

H.I.S. Tours Co., its Thai unit, has teamed up with Japanese home appliance and household goods maker Iris Ohyama Inc. to sell vacuums, air purifiers, bedding cleaning machines among other items to its clients like hotels, spas and restaurants, the company said last week.

H.I.S.' local arm markets such home appliances on major e-commerce platforms like Shopee and Lazada as well as on its own website. It will also sell them at its branches in and around Bangkok by the end of August, the travel agency said in a statement last Tuesday.

"People's awareness of health and hygiene are growing due to the novel coronavirus. We have close ties with hotels, spas and restaurants in Thailand and would be able to bring about synergy effects (through collaboration) between Japanese companies," Norikazu Tsuda, managing director of H.I.S. Tours, told NNA.

Iris Ohyama had been seeking agencies to expand sales channels in Thailand, while the travel company has faced a plunge in demand for inbound and outbound tourists in the Southeast Asian country. (NNA/Kyodo)

==Kyodo

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