TokyoTomo Travel Guide

Travel revenue for January at Kinki Nippon Tourist (KNT) dropped 9.3 percent from last year to 21,107 million yen, of which overseas travel was 8,169 million yen, down 10.2 percent, and domestic travel was 12,301 million yen, down 10.3 percent. In overseas travel, group tours dipped 13.2 percent to 1,143 million yen as ordinary groups were down 26.2 percent to 792 million yen while student groups were up 44.3 percent to 350 million yen. The extraordinary growth in student groups is partly due to reinstatement of the school excursions once postponed on account of the H1N1 flu epidemic. Package tours plunged 20.2 percent to 4,005 million yen as Holiday went down by 19.9 percent to 4,005 million yen. Overseas individual travel rose 9.2 percent to 3,020 million yen because international air ticket sales were upbeat.

Domestic group tours showed a growth of 6.1 percent with sales of 3,786 million yen as student groups climbed 12.6 percent to 2,684 million yen although ordinary groups sank 7.0 percent to 1,102 million yen. Domestic package tours fell 17.2 percent to 5,285 million yen with Mate down 17.1 percent to 5,283 million yen and other package tours down 68.7 percent to 2.4 million yen. Individual travel lost 14.0 percent to 3,229 million yen. Inbound travel surged 33.8 percent to 266 million yen.

KNT spun off, as of January 1, the business of Hokkaido and Kyushu districts to be succeeded by the new companies of Kinki Nippon Tourist Hokkaido Co. and Kinki Nippon Tourist Kyushu Co. respectively, but it will consolidate the business results of these two to KNT itself until the end of this year just for the sake of statistical reference.

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.

Destination Quebec hosted a reception for the Japanese media on March 3 jointly with Air Canada (AC). The venue was the “Theatre Tokyo” of CIRQUE DU SOLEIL which has its base in Montreal, Quebec. The “ZED,” a program exclusively prepared for the Japanese market, was introduced to the invited guests. Seichi Iwabuchi, Regional Director at Destination Quebec, opened the reception, citing that he would like every guest to experience the flavor of Quebec first-hand through the performance by CIRQUE DU SOLEIL, followed by local cuisine from Quebec, adding that the media event will further help improve the recognition of Quebec in the Japanese travel market.

In a drive to enhance its market recognition, Destination Quebec has meanwhile established the “Quebec Media Club,” in fact, members of which were invited to the reception. Commenting on a significance of the PR activities, Iwabuchi said that he is hopeful that the PR activities will achieve tangible results in motivating prospective travelers to make inquiries with travel agencies and thus encouraging them to start to produce the package tours.

Kiyo Weiss, Sales and Marketing Manager Japan, Air Canada, told the guests, while giving a toast, that the airline will start a new service to Calgary from March 28 in addition to the current non-stop flights to Vancouver and Toronto, adding that the new service to Calgary will further enhance its accessibility to Canada. She also told the travel agencies that the number of tourists to Quebec peaks undoubtedly in its autumn season. The new thrice-weekly service to Quebec, which is scheduled to be operated from March 28 through to October 29, should accommodate the peak traffic during the autumn season, she said, expecting that it will help encourage the travel agencies to produce package tours featuring the summer and the autumn season in Quebec.

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.

JTB Global Marketing & Travel Inc. (JTBGMT) has put on sale the new tour series “Spring Collection” targeting the foreign travelers visiting Japan on Easter holidays. Easter, a Christian festival when the resurrection of Jesus Christ is celebrated, falls on April 4 this year, and there are quite a number of holidaymakers in Europe and the United States who travel at this time taking a vacation before and after the festival. JTBGMT has lined up tours that feature cherry blossoms to spur demand and capture the incoming foreign travelers.

To give a few examples of the tours, “Tokyo Historical Town Walking with Cherry Blossoms,” sold at a price of 3,600 yen for an adult or a child, visits Yanaka and Ueno Kaneiji Temple on foot, and then proceeds to Ueno Park where tea and Japanese cake are served at a teahouse. Apart from other tours in Tokyo like “Cherry Blossoms and Oedo Onsen Theme Park,” there are unique tours such as “Experience at Kyoto Town House and Cherry Blossoms,” or “Green Tourism and Rural Experience” that visits Iiyama City, Nagano Prefecture, to enjoy the view of cherry blossoms at the ruins of Iiyama Castle.

Other newly marketed tours include “Okinawa Free Plan” and “Tour to 2010 MotoGP World Championship, Grand Prix of Japan.” JTBGMT sets sales goals of 450 participants for Spring Collection, 200 for Okinawa Free Plan, and 40 for Tour to Grand Prix of Japan..

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.