TokyoTomo Travel Guide

British Embassy in Tokyo, VisitBritain, British Council, and other British public institutions in Japan jointly hosted on July 27 an event commemorating the forthcoming London Olympic Games 2012 just two years away. Tom Burn, media & communication director at British Embassy, is enthusiastic about taking the Olympics as a good opportunity to promote the U.K. as the travel destination.

VisitBriain reports that Japanese arrivals in 2009 were 234,000 with holidaymakers increasing 24 percent over the previous year. Cyna Bosworth, manager Japan at VisitBritain, says the increase is attributed primarily to Japanese people’s strong interest in British culture and tradition as well as yen’s appreciation against sterling pound. In view of the fact that the Olympic torch relay travels through many places in the country and various games are held at nine stadiums in the suburbs of London, he says that such event and games would certainly help play up London and other tourist spots. He seems well prepared to heighten visibility and awareness of the United Kingdom as the travel destination taking advantage of the Olympic Games as a hook.

In a move to encourage Japanese travel agencies to merchandise tours to the U.K., VisitBritain is poised to provide necessary information, render assistance they may require, introduce business partners on the other end, and allow free access to its photo library.

As the special guests to the commemorative event, two personages were invited. They were: Yuko Arimori who won gold and silver medals in women’s marathon at the Barcelona and Atlanta Olympics respectively, and Kuniko Obinata, a member of Japan Paralympic Committee, who got gold medals in alpine skiing at the Turin and Nagano Winter Paralympics. They both spoke of their expectation for the London Olympic Games, and posed for the pictures taken together with cakes made in the image of Wenlock and Mandeville, the official mascots for the London Olympics and the Paralympics.

Source: Travel Vision

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