TokyoTomo Travel Guide

Japan Tourism Agency (JTA) hosted on July 14 a Symposium Commemorating Japan MICE Year in Osaka. It was one of the key programs incorporated into an action plan for the Japan MICE Year that started off in April 2010. Approximately 300 people attended the meeting from travel agencies, hotels, and local convention and visitors bureaus.

The first speaker Tuula Lindberg talked about her personal experience and career of having worked for many years as chairperson for International Congress and Convention Association (ICCA), a reputed MICE-related world organization. She emphasized, as means of conducting successful destination marketing, the significance of gaining access to up-to-date firsthand information by becoming a member of international MICE organizations.

Next speaker Patrick M. Delany, Vice President Global of DMC in MCI Group, talked about the roles of DMC (Destination Management Company) and development of its human resources, showing specific examples.

Hisao Kawashima, President of Kawashima Associate, gave a suggestion that, for a solicitation campaign of an international congress, the efforts should be directed not only to marketing activities such as site presentation but to “solution-backed marketing” in order to help the organizer solve any problems that he may have. He illustrated some successful cases for audience’s enlightenment.

The last speaker was Katsuaki Suzuki, Executive Director from Japan National Tourism Organization (JNTO) Shanghai Office. He described the incentive travel market situation in and around Shanghai, citing that nearly 80 percent of local companies who would like to sponsor incentive tours to Japan eventually gives up Japan as the destination for one reason or another. He appealed the need to introduce a new category of visa good for MICE attendance and also gave some tips to invigorate MICE business for the future.

Commissioner of JTA Hiroshi Mizohata concluded the symposium by asserting that people concerned should gear up to capture MICE demand in earnest with both public and private sectors joining forces.

Source: Travel Vision

Travel Vision Inc. provides information on the travel industry in Japan via "Daily Travel Vision", a Japanese-language e-mail newsletter, and the "Travel Vision" website. There are nearly 110,000 people working in the Japanese travel industry, and Travel Vision is proud to be bringing travel news to more than 30,000 people through Daily Travel Vision.

Having joined the NYC & Company’s sales mission to Japan as key members, Fred Dixon, senior vice president for Tourism and Convention Development, and Makiko Matsuda Healy, associate vice president for Tourism Development – Asia Pacific, accepted a request for an interview made by travel journals. Dixson emphasized at the interview that Japan is a longstanding important market for NYC and expressed his expectation that Japanese visitors will increase 25 percent in 2010.

Assessing favorably of the American Airlines’ new service between Haneda (Tokyo) and New York, he speculates it would shore up demand of Japanese tourists. Japanese visitors for 2009 declined 5.9 percent from the previous year to 210,000; however, their per capita per day consumption was US$2,288 (or 208,000 yen) and their average length of stay was 11 nights, both of which were not on the downside.

He does not take the 25 percent growth as too aggressive judging from the fact that package tours are selling well and the enquiries about MICE are increasing. Hotel situation is getting better in New York with 32 new hotels coming into service within this year, adding 5,500 rooms to the city’s accommodation capacity to 86,500 rooms.

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IHGANA Hotels Group Japan held “IHGANA Japan Showcase 2010” in Tokyo on June 14 and in Osaka on June 17. It was a workshop for sales representatives of the group hotels of IHGANA and IHG. The first Japan Showcase took place last year. The workshop this year was represented by 38 hotels at home and abroad.

Mark Flower, Director of Sales, Japan and Korea at IHGANA Hotels Group Japan, told the Travel Vision on June 11 that the partnership with travel agencies plays a decisive role in the Japan market, adding that the “IHGANA Japan Showcase 2010” would also aim to further enhance the partnership between the group hotels and the travel agencies. He said that he would expect its Japan Showcase 2010 to help create new customers while it continues to serve the existing customers and also to help introduce new group hotels to the Japan market.

The number of hotels currently operated worldwide by Intercontinental Hotels Group is, as of March 31 this year, 4,476 with 651,830 guest rooms. Additional 1,344 hotels are slated for opening in the future, expecting to increase the aggregate number of guest rooms by 200,895. The number of hotels with the highest brand name of Intercontinental currently in operation is 166 providing 55,874 guest rooms. Additional 64 hotels with Intercontinental brand are to be operated with as many as 20,536 guest rooms. The “IHGANA Japan Showcase 2010” saw eight new hotels taking part in the workshop including Hotel Indigo Shanghai and Intercontinental Asiana Saigon. Read more…