TokyoTomo Travel Guide

Tourism Prince Edward Island (PEI), jointly with Canadian Tourism Commission (CTC) and Air Canada (AC), has launched its sales promotion, in conjunction with the movie “Anne – Road to Green Gables” featuring the novel “Anne of Green Gables,” which was released in Tokyo and Osaka on July 17. PEI has been distributing leaflets introducing sightseeing spots of Prince Edward Island, co-sponsoring the exhibition of the “Anne – Road to Green Gables at Ghibli Museum, Mitaka which started from June 23. Also at Cinema ANJELICA, where the movie is presently showing, the package tour brochures, prepared by travel agencies, featuring Prince Edward Island are handed out to the viewers.

The movie is actually produced by reediting the animated carton, which was telecasted in 1979, covering the first episode to the fifth. It describes how Anne came to Green Gables to live in. Speaking at a preview held at Embassy Canada in Tokyo, Christine Nakamura, Counselor Public Affairs at Embassy Canada to Japan, said that the filming location was actually visited and the movie followed the original story faithfully and with great care, adding that she expects the film release this time to make a great opportunity for Japanese to appreciate the allure of Canada and Prince Edward Island.

Yuka Takahashi, In-market Representative, Japan of Tourism Prince Edward Island joined to say that these promotional activities definitely will enhance exposure of Prince Edward Island among Japanese customers, thus encouraging travel agencies to plan and promote Prince Edward Island as an attractive destination. She is hopeful that the number of Japanese visitors would, as its target for 2010, rebound closely to a level of approximately 10,000 visitors as seen in 2008, said Nakamura.

The meeting was broken into four sub groups, and each sub group listed up five opportunities and five drawbacks. The top five issues were picked up by ballots of all the members. Then each sub group discussed these major issues and proposed specific strategies.

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.

Japan Association of Travel Agents (JATA) sent to Canada a mission composed of the Outbound Travel Committee members to have discussions with Canadian tourist offices and suppliers in Banff on May 31 (local time). The mission was organized in the framework of Visit World Campaign (VWC) programs, whose objective was to share the market perception and analysis of Japanese travelers visiting Canada and to lead the way to achieve 300,000 Japanese visitors to Canada, up 50 percent from the previous year.

Takashi Sasaki, Vice Chairman of JATA and the leader of the mission, indicated the resolve on behalf of the Japanese team, saying “We want to make this year a new start of Japanese travelers’ comeback to Canada, aspiring to bring the number of visitors to 300,000. This is an immense figure but is a jump start needed for beating our ongoing deflationary spiral.” He further emphasized the importance of bilateral cooperation, adding that mutual efforts are vital in order to catch the wind in the sail during 2010.

Michael Ruby, a member of Asia Pacific Committee at Canadian Tourism Commission (CTC), made a speech on behalf of the Canadian representatives, asserting this is a critical year for the tourism of the two nations. Both sides should join forces for the development of new products as Canada is a lucrative destination abundant in tourist attractions while they look forward to promotional activities in the Japanese market, he continued.

At the working-level discussion, the meeting was broken up into four subgroups, assigning each attendee to any of the four, to talk about “opportunities” and “drawbacks” in the promotion of tourism to Canada. The groups that dealt with opportunities produced 10 agenda such as “hands-on travel components,” “youth and student markets,” “active-senior market,” and “MICE,” while those that dealt with drawbacks submitted eight agendas, including “scarcity of new products,” “a small number of repeat travelers,” “short supply of air seats,” and “lackluster advertisement on the part of Canada.” Of these topics, major issues were picked up by ballots of all the members and discussion resumed group by group to make specific strategies.

Following a series of discussion, Anthony Rippingale, General Manager Japan at Canadian Tourism Commission (CTC), concluded the meeting, saying the heated discussion has brought out the next steps we should take and that people involved are requested to find solutions after weighing the comments and proposals. On the Japanese side, a working group, in liaison with the Outbound Travel Committee, is supposed to hammer out an action plan and put it into practice.

Exchange of candid opinions convinces both parties that they are serious

The meeting at this time was realized because, following an appointment of Canada as a major destination for the Japanese travel market, Japan and Canada wanted to update perception of the current market situation and share recognition of the hurdles lying ahead. The Japan side proposed the round-table talk style, while the Canadian side selected agenda and framed how the meeting should be carried out. Both sides had worked over six months to wrap up pending matters to present them to the meeting. Hiroshi Sawabe, director of 20 Million Travelers Promotion Office, says the round-table talk was the first case for JATA mission.

There were various feedbacks from the meeting attendees; some say, “The discussion was fruitful as we could exchange views on tourism promotion with members of the tourist offices and suppliers,” and others say, “We were encouraged by the enthusiasm the Canadian people demonstrated.” Obviously, the meeting could produce something more than sorting out the problems by hectic discussion among executive and managerial people on both sides.

By NORIKO YAMADA, Travel Vision

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.

The VWC 20 Million Travelers Promotion Office at Japan Association of Travel Agents (JATA) plans to launch a summer travel campaign from the beginning to the middle of June. Its publicity makes an appearance in encompassing train advertisement on three railway lines in the Tokyo metropolitan area and posters at the main stations nationwide. JATA brought the schedule forward by two weeks this year because sale of summer tours at retail stores starts right after the spring holidays, and package tour wholesalers therefore pressed JATA to start the campaign earlier than usual. JATA is working with foreign tourist offices and airlines to capture summer travel demand at the earliest possible opportunities.

Scandinavian Tourist Board (STB), Canadian Tourism Commission (CTC), Tourism Australia (TA), Finnair (AY), and Jetstar Airways (JQ) cooperated in artwork and visualization of the destination images for JATA’s publicity by contributing part of their archives. Encompassing train advertisement is run for two weeks from the beginning of June on the three lines of JR Keihin Tohoku, Keihin Electric Express Railway, and Keisei Electric Railway. Poster display is scheduled from the beginning of June for a week at eight key stations across the country including JR Sapporo Station and Naha Airport Station (Okinawa) on monorail railway.

On the poster, a notice is given about the “Let’s go kaigai (abroad)” campaign slated for July 24 and about JATA World Travel Fair starting from September 24. As to the Travel Fair, another campaign is forthcoming in which admission tickets will be offered to consumers for free in a drawing.

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.