Introduction

Japan Explorer is committed to protecting the privacy and confidentiality of your information. We will act in the best interests of all of our customers at all times. We are committed to ensuring that your privacy is managed effectively in a secure environment.

Australia’s Commonwealth Privacy Legislation, detailed in the National Privacy Principles, is legislated under the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) (as amended by the Privacy Amendment (Private Sector) Act 2000 (Cth)). We are bound by these Principles (referred to below as ‘the Privacy Laws’).

This Privacy Policy (‘Policy’) explains, in general terms, how Japan Explorer (‘Japan Explorer’ ‘we’ ‘our’ or ‘us’) protects the privacy of your personal information, collected in providing to you your travel requirements and/or travel products.

This Policy applies to all of your personal information that you provide to us-

• when using our website or our online booking facility;
• when you engage with us directly to provide our services to you; and
• under any other agreement or arrangement.

This Policy will also apply to any personal information about you that is provided to us by someone else.

We are required, by law, to obtain your consent to the collection of personal and/or ‘sensitive’ information about you. By providing personal information to us (or allowing another person to do so on your behalf), you agree that this Policy will apply to how we handle your personal information and you consent to us collecting, using and disclosing your personal information as detailed in this Policy. If you do not agree with any part of this Policy, you must not provide your personal information to us and this may affect the services that we can provide to you.

In this Policy, where we say ‘disclose’, this includes to transfer, share, send, or otherwise make available or accessible your personal information to another person or entity.

‘Travel products’ includes all forms of travel related goods and services including (but not limited to)-

• transport services, whether by air, road, rail or water;
• airline flights, ballooning, coach, motor vehicle, motorcycling, cycling, rail, cruise, sailing, canoeing, kayaking, steam boat, paddle boat, powered boat, walking, hiking, trekking, abseiling, mountain climbing, camping and caravanning;
• accommodation services;
• food, beverages;
• tours, guides and car hire or rental;
• travel insurance; and
• promotions relating to any one or more of the above.

What is personal information?

Personal information is information or an opinion, including information or an opinion forming part of a database, whether true or not, and whether recorded in a material form or not, about an individual whose identity is apparent, or can reasonably be ascertained, from the information or opinion.

Personal information can be almost any information that is associated with an identifiable living individual. It can include correspondence, audio recordings, images, alpha-numerical identifiers and combinations of these.

For information to be personal information, two criteria must be satisfied-

• it must be about an individual; and
• the individual’s identity must be reasonably ascertainable from the information or opinion.

Information does not have to be true in order to be personal information and it does not need to be written down or recorded in another material form (such as a photograph or audio recording). It can be spoken or communicated in another way (e.g. by sign language).

How does Japan Explorer collect your personal information?

Where practical, we will collect personal information directly from you, however, we may collect information from other people too. Generally, this collection will occur when you deal with us either in person, by telephone, letter, facsimile, email, when you access and use our website or online booking facility, or any other form of correspondence.

We may collect personal information about you when you purchase, or make enquiries about, travel arrangements or other products and services, when you enter competitions, when you register for promotions, when you subscribe to receive marketing from us (e.g. e-newsletters) or when you request brochures or other information from us. We may also collect your personal information when you complete surveys, provide us with feedback or complete any form or other document requested by us, whether for our purposes or for other purposes related to your travel requirements.

In some circumstances, it may be necessary for us to collect personal information about you from a third party. This includes where a person makes a travel booking on your behalf which includes travel arrangements to be used by you (e.g. a family or group booking). Where this occurs, we will assume that you have consented to your personal information being collected by us, and to us handling it, in accordance with this Policy. You should let us know immediately if you become aware that your personal information has been provided to us by another person without your consent.

When Japan Explorer acts as agent

When we book products and services for you, we usually do so as an agent for, or on behalf of, third party travel service providers. This means that we usually collect personal information about you for our internal purposes (e.g. to process your booking), and on behalf of the parties for whom we act as agent for their internal purposes (e.g. to provide the booked services) and other purposes.

Accordingly, the consent you provide to us to the collection of your personal information also applies equally to the parties with whom you have made enquiries with, or purchased travel products from. For example, if you purchase a flight from us, then under this Policy you will have consented to your personal information being provided to the airline to enable your flight to be booked.

We act as agent for, or on behalf of, many travel service providers. It is not possible for us to set out in this Policy all of the travel service providers for whom we act, or exactly how each of these travel service providers will use your personal information.

What personal information does Japan Explorer collect?

Generally, the types of personal information that we collect about you depends on the type of services that you engage us to provide to you, whether or not you access and use our website or online booking facility, and the form and content of your communications and correspondence with us.

We may collect details such as your name, salutation, occupation, date of birth and age, residential address, mailing address, telephone numbers, email address, credit/debit card details (including card type, card number, security number and expiry date), passport details (including holder’s name, place of issue, passport number and expiry date), frequent flyer details, information about your dietary requirements and health issues (if any), and other details relevant to your travel arrangements or required by the relevant travel service providers (e.g. airlines, accommodation and/or tour providers).

When you make contact with us for other purposes, we may also collect personal information about you in relation to those purposes. For example, we may collect your personal information so we can contact you about a competition you have entered (e.g. if you win) or to respond to an enquiry or feedback form you have sent to us. We also collect information that is required for use in the business activities of Japan Explorer and our related entities, including, for example, financial details necessary in order to process various transactions, and any other relevant personal information you may elect to provide to us.

In some circumstances, we may collect personal information from you which is regarded as sensitive information. Sensitive information includes types of personal information such as your racial or ethnic origin, religious beliefs or affiliations, criminal record and health information. We will only collect sensitive information about you with your consent and where reasonably necessary for, or directly related to, one or more of our functions or activities (e.g. to make travel arrangements on your behalf). Where you provide sensitive information to us, you consent to us using that sensitive information for the purpose for which it was collected. For example, if you provide health information to us in connection with a travel insurance application, you consent to us using and disclosing that health information in connection with arranging that travel insurance on your behalf.

We may collect non-personal information to help customise your user experience and provide you with offers tailored to your interests.

When you visit our website, we record general information about your visit for statistical purposes. These statistics do not contain any personal information.

How does Japan Explorer use your personal information?

Where you contact us in relation to a travel booking or enquiry, the primary purpose for which we collect your personal information is, generally, to assist you with your required travel needs and with booking your required travel products and services. However, the purpose for collection may differ depending on the particular circumstances as disclosed in this Policy.

By providing us with, or otherwise allowing us to collect, your personal information, you consent to us using and disclosing your personal information for the purposes for which it was collected, and for related or ancillary purposes, such as any one or more of the following purposes-

• to identify you;
• to identify the actual user of travel products;
• to book your travel requirements and related transactions (e.g. airline, car rental, hotel bookings, visas, travel insurance);
• to facilitate your participation in frequent flyers and other loyalty programs;
• to conduct marketing activities including (but not limited to) mail-outs, emails, e-newsletters, SMS notifications and telephone calls;
• to conduct market research, gauging customer satisfaction and seeking feedback regarding our relationship with you;
• to track trends in sales and travel destinations and assist in developing, improving and marketing our products and services and the travel products that we offer;
• servicing our relationship with you by, among other things, providing updates on promotions and services that we think may interest you;
• identification of fraud or error;
• to comply with regulatory reporting and compliance requirements;
• to provide information to government bodies, embassies and agencies, and law enforcement authorities (e.g. customs, immigration, security and for emergency and natural disaster assistance in locating you);
• for our internal accounting and administration, financial transaction reporting and licensing purposes; and
• other purposes as permitted or required by law (e.g. to prevent a threat to life, health or safety).

We are only allowed to store your personal information for as long as necessary having regard to the purpose for which it was collected or a related or ancillary purpose. We may, therefore, delete your personal information after a reasonable period of time and, if you have not used our services for some time, you may have to re-enter or re-supply your personal information to us.

Opt-out

We will only send e-newsletters or other promotional materials to you if you have opted in to receive them. You can subscribe to receive e-newsletters and other promotional materials by following the relevant links on our website.

Should you no longer wish to receive e-newsletters or other promotional material, participate in market research or receive other types of communication from us, please contact us.

Who we share your information with

You consent to the personal information about you, which we collect or receive, being processed, transferred and/or disclosed, by us, to other parties. However, we do not disclose any personal information except in the following circumstances-

• when it is consented to and authorised by you (refer to your express consent and authority given as documented above);
• as permitted or required by law;
• in each of the circumstances set out in the previous section ‘How does Japan Explorer use your personal information?’;
• to various regulatory bodies and law enforcement officials and agencies, including to protect against fraud and for security purposes;
• to third party suppliers of IT based solutions that assist us in providing products and services to you;
• to our related entities and brands (including companies based overseas);
• to travel service providers such as travel wholesalers, tour operators, airlines, hotels, car rental companies and other service providers for the purpose for which the information was collected or for a related purpose (e.g. to facilitate and process your travel arrangements);
• to comply with our legal obligations and any applicable customs/immigration requirements relating to your travel;
• to comply with a request from a qualified government department if we are satisfied that they have the authority to make such a request;
• where we suspect that unlawful activity has been, or may be, engaged in and the personal information is a necessary part of our investigation or reporting of the matter;
• to third parties who may involve you in market research for the purpose of servicing our relationship with you and improving the services that we provide; and
• to third parties for the purpose of analysing trends in sales and travel destinations.

The types of third parties we may disclose your personal information to are-

• our officers, employees, agents and contractors;
• our related entities;
• travel product providers;
• law enforcement agencies, foreign embassies, and governments around the world including and in relation to (without limitation) the following-
  • law enforcement;
  • customs;
  • immigration;
  • passports;
  • visas and permits;
  • financial transaction reporting;
  • emergency and natural disaster assistance in locating you;
  • health;
  • anti-terrorism, anti-fraud and other anti-criminal activity; and
  • security.

We engage, or may engage, third party contractors to do any one or more of the following-

• process your travel requirements including the making of bookings;
• provide website hosting, design, layout, software, data processing and security services;
• provide mail and email enquiries, processing and answering services;
• provide electronic funds transfer services, credit card and debit card account processing and related services;
• provide information technology services including data processing and input services, data storage services, data protection services, communication and computer networks, software and system development and maintenance;
• to provide market research services;
• to provide legal advice; and
• to collect debts owed to us.

The third parties to whom we disclose your personal information may also be taken to have collected your personal information in their own right, for their internal use. For more information in relation to the collection of your personal information by travel service providers, refer to the section above entitled ‘When Japan Explorer acts as agent’.

Where we engage travel service providers to perform services for us, those travel service providers may be required to handle your personal information. Where we disclose your personal information to such travel service providers, you agree that we will not be required to ensure their compliance with applicable privacy laws, or otherwise be liable or accountable for how they handle your personal information.

Other than the above, we will not disclose your personal information without your consent unless we reasonably believe that disclosure is necessary to lessen, or prevent, a threat to life, health or safety, or for certain action to be undertaken by an enforcement body (e.g. prevention, detection, investigation, prosecution or punishment of criminal offences), when disclosure is authorised or required by law, or disclosure is otherwise permitted by applicable privacy laws.

How we protect your information

To ensure the confidentiality of your personal information, and to protect your personal information from loss and misuse, from unauthorised access, modification, disclosure and/or interference, we have implemented various physical, electronic and managerial security measures.

We regularly review security and encryption technologies and will strive to protect your personal information as fully as we protect our own confidential information.

Our systems are configured with industry standard data encryption and firewall technology. When you send personal information to us over the internet, your data is protected to ensure safe transmission.

How you access and correct your information

In collecting and using your personal information we take reasonable steps to ensure that your personal information is accurate, complete and up-to-date.

Subject to any exceptions provided by law, you are able to access any personal information we hold about you. Where personal information we hold about you is not accurate, complete, up-to-date or relevant, you may ask us to correct that personal information.

Upon your request and within a reasonable timeframe, we will provide you with access to your personal information. We reserve the right to confirm the identity of the person seeking access or correction to personal information before complying with such a request.

If we deny access or correction, we will provide you with our reasons for any refusal to supply you with access to your personal information, including any exemption relied upon by us under the Privacy Laws.

You must always provide accurate information and you agree to update it whenever necessary.

You also agree that, in the absence of any update, we can assume that the information submitted to us is correct.

Disclosure of your personal information overseas

We may be required to transfer your personal information to third parties situated overseas, including (but not limited to) travel product providers. When you provide, or otherwise allow us to collect, your personal information, you consent to your personal information being disclosed to certain overseas recipients, for the following reasons-

• as permitted or required by law;
• so that we can provide the services that you have engaged us to provide to you;
• to facilitate the booking(s) you make using our online booking facility;
• as travel product providers, from whom you have purchased a travel product, may be situated overseas; and
• as we are contracted with third party contractors, who are situated overseas, to provide goods and services to us.

Due to the nature of the travel services offered by us, many of the service providers that we deal with are located overseas. Where we disclose your personal information to an overseas recipient, you agree that we will not be required to ensure the recipient’s compliance with Australian privacy laws or otherwise be liable or accountable for how the recipient handles your personal information.

In providing our services to you, it may be necessary for us to disclose personal information to relevant overseas travel service providers. For instance, where you request travel to be booked with an overseas travel service provider, we will usually need to disclose your personal information to that provider for the purposes of arranging your booking with them. These travel service providers will, in most cases, receive your personal information in the country in which they will provide the services to you or in which their business is based.

We may also disclose your personal information to our overseas related entities and to travel service providers and other third parties who perform services for us overseas. Generally, we will only disclose your personal information to these overseas recipients in connection with the facilitation of your travel booking and/or to enable the performance of administrative and technical services by them on our behalf.

The recipient of your personal information may be located in a country that might not provide an equivalent level of data protection that we do. Whilst we take steps to help ensure that your personal information is protected, we cannot be responsible for how these recipients handle your personal information.

If you object to your personal information being transferred to third parties overseas, contact us immediately and note that this could result in us not being able to provide you with your desired travel products and, where you have made a booking using our online booking facility, the potential cancellation of that booking.

Linked websites

Our website has links to third party websites such as travel product providers and other travel related links, including government agencies. We are not responsible for the privacy practices or the content of such other websites. When you leave our website, we encourage you to read the privacy policy of any linked websites that you visit as their privacy policy and practices may differ from ours. This privacy policy applies solely to information collected by us and via our website.

Anti-Spam Laws

Australia has Commonwealth anti-spam legislation detailed in the-

• Spam Act 2003;
• Spam (Consequential Amendments) Act 2003 (now consolidated into the Telecommunications Act 1997); and
• Spam Regulations 2004,

(referred to below as ‘the anti-spam laws’).

The anti-spam laws and the Privacy Legislation do overlap.

The anti-spam laws prohibit the sending of unsolicited, commercial, electronic messages with an ‘Australian link’. A message has an Australian link if it originates or was commissioned in Australia, or originates overseas but was sent to an address accessed in Australia.

The anti-spam laws are based around three critical conditions relating to commercial, electronic messages-

• the message must be sent with the recipient’s consent (the recipient may give express consent, or under certain circumstances consent may be inferred from their conduct or an existing business, or other, relationship);
• the message must contain accurate information about the identity of who authorised the sending of the message and how to contact them; and
• the message must contain a functional ‘unsubscribe’ facility to allow the recipient to ‘opt-out’ from receiving messages from that source in the future. The unsubscribe requests must be honoured within five working days.

We assume that you have consented to receiving commercial, electronic messages (e.g. travel product related promotions, specials, services and surveys) from us unless, and until, you advise us to the contrary.

Tracking technologies – Cookies

A cookie is a small text file that is stored on a user’s computer for record-keeping purposes. Cookies save data about individual visitors to the website, such as the visitor’s name, password, username, screen preferences, the pages of a site viewed by the visitor, and the advertisements viewed, or clicked on by the visitor.Our website and online booking facility uses cookies for it to function so you must have cookies enabled.We may, from time to time, link the information we store in cookies to any personal information you submit while on our website. We use cookies to identify a visitor’s browser, to anonymously track visits and to enhance the experience of the website. This information allows us to continually improve our services in order to provide you with a better overall experience.We use both session ID cookies and persistent cookies. A session ID cookie expires when you close your browser. A persistent cookie remains on your hard drive for an extended period of time. When the visitor returns to the website, we may recognise the visitor by the cookie and customise the visitor’s experience accordingly. Cookies in and of themselves do not personally identify you, only your computer.You can disable cookies on your computer. If you disable cookies, you will still have access to our website, but your ability to use some areas of our website, such as the online booking facility, contests or surveys, may be limited.Cookies can be deleted from your computer at any time (see your internet browser’s help menu for more information), however this will remove all cookies and not just those associated with our website.

Google Analytics

When you visit certain sections of our website, Google Analytics, a website analytics service provided by Google, Inc. (‘Google’), will place cookies on your computer’s browser. The information generated by these cookies about your use of the website is transmitted to Google. This information is then used for the purpose of compiling statistical reports to enable us to measure and analyse the number of visits to the site and its pages, the average time spent on the site and the pages viewed. We will not (and will not allow any third party to) use Google Analytics to track or to collect any personal data of visitors to our website. We will not associate any data gathered via the use of cookies with any personal data from any source as part of our use of Google Analytics.For further information about Google Analytics please refer to www.google.com/analytics and for details of Google Analytics’ Privacy Policy, please refer to http://www.google.com/intl/en/policies/privacy/ You may choose to opt-out of Google Analytics using the Google Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on which you can access at https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout/

Web beacons / gifs

We employ a software technology called clear gifs (web beacons), that help us better manage content on our website by informing us what content is effective. Clear gifs are tiny graphics with a unique identifier, similar in function to cookies, and are used to track the online movements of web users. In contrast to cookies, which are stored on a user’s computer hard drive, clear gifs are embedded invisibly on web pages and are about the size of the following full stop. We do not tie the information gathered by clear gifs to our customers’ personal identifiable information.

3rd party tracking

The use of cookies by our partners, affiliates, tracking utility company or service providers is not covered by our Privacy Policy. We do not have access or control over these cookies. Our third party partners employ clear gifs, images and scripts that help them better manage content on our website. We do not tie the information gathered to our customers’ or users’ personal identifiable information.

Changes to this Privacy Policy

From time to time it may be necessary for us to review and revise this Policy. We reserve the right to amend this Policy at any time, for any reason and without notice to you. If we make a change to the Policy, the revised version will be posted on our website.

Any change is effective as at the time and date it is posted on our website.

You will be deemed to have consented to any changes to the policy when you use the site after the effective date of change.

Last updated 26 March 2018.

Feedback – Contact – Complaints

If you have any enquiries, comments or complaints about this Policy or how we handle your personal information, please contact us at info@japanexplorer.com.au or via post at Japan Explorer, Suite 227A, 98 Elizabeth Street, Melbourne, VIC 3000. We will respond to you within a reasonable time period.

Please contact us if you have any further questions regarding our products and services.