TokyoTomo Travel Guide

Vietnam Airlines (VN) recently held a tourism seminar on Vietnam where the airline unveiled the frequency increase and sales strategy for its winter schedule. Vietnam National Administration of Tourism and the City of Da Nang extolled the allure of the destinations in Central Vietnam.

According to Tran Phong Binh, Vietnam National Administration of Tourism, while the number of foreign tourist arrivals during 2009 declined by 10 percent to 3.77 million, it is expected to rise this year by approximately 35 percent to 5.0 million. He said that he is hopeful that the number of Japanese tourist arrivals should reach 430,000 exceeding 410,000 peaking in 2007. Kanji Tsukizawa, General Manager of JATA VWC observed that the vibrant growth is attributed to the additional charter flights operated from the regional cities as well as the increased capacity of Vietnam Airlines from Japan.

Vietnam Airlines currently operates 46 weekly flights to Vietnam from Japan and, the code-sharing flights with Japan Airlines (JL) being included, it operates as many as 60 flights per week to Vietnam. The airline further increases its seat capacity from Japan, by enhancing its weekly service to three on its Chubu/Ho Chi Minh route from November this year. Hideo Aoki, Senior Sales Supervisor of VN Japan emphasized that the airline aims to expand its future sales, providing ample seat capacity to the key markets in Japan.

Commenting on Central Vietnam which the airline is concentrating to promote, Toshikazu Suzuki from Da Nang City said that the number of Japanese tourists to the area is only 40,000, which accounts for less than 10 percent of the total number of the Japanese tourist visitors to Vietnam. As Japanese travel agencies point out, the insufficient number of hotel rooms and also Japanese-speaking guides in Central Vietnam are the top issues to be improved. Suzuki stated that the number of hotel rooms continues to increase in the city of Da Nang as Silver Shore Hotel with 500 guest rooms and a Casino opened, followed by the international hotel chains including Marriott, Hyatt Regency and Sheraton hotels. A hundred new Japanese- speaking guides are presently being trained. Besides brushing up Japanese language ability of the existing Japanese-speaking guides, the City of Da Nang strives to improve the linguistic environment including a Japanese language service at hotels and shops.

Suzuki further suggested “Action Tours” instead of the usual sight-seeing tours, thus featuring volunteer activities, sports events including marathon and triathlon and cultural exchanges. In the future, he added, the City of Da Nang endeavors to aim for further tourism promotion of Central Vietnam, creating hands-on tourism products in partnership with Japanese travel agencies.

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.

China Airlines (CI) signed an agreement on September 14 to join the SkyTeam Airline Alliance by mid-2011, according to Delta Air Lines. China Southern Airlines (CZ) has been a member of the SkyTeam and China Eastern Airlines (MU) will also join the alliance as well. SkyTeam expects China Airlines to complement the route networks served by these two airlines. China Airlines currently operates 93 international routes, of which Okinawa, Miyazaki, Surabaya (Indonesia) and Palau will be new destinations for the SkyTeam alliance.

Vietnam Airlines (VN) also formally became a member of the SkyTeam this past June and, together with Korean Air (KE), five Asian airlines in total will have joined the SkyTeam Alliance.

About China Airlines
Since it was founded in 1959, China Airlines has consistently been Taiwan’s largest airline company and one of Asia’s leading carriers. China Airlines presently serves 93 destinations in 28 countries and regions worldwide with a fleet of the world’s most advanced aircraft, offering comfortable and safe service. As of the end of August 2010, China Airlines operates 66 aircraft, including 46 passenger jets and 20 freighters. The average age of China Airlines’ fleet is just 7.9 years.

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.

Asked to comment on the Tokyo’s Haneda route at a press briefing held on September 2, Edward Bastian, President at Delta Air Lines (DL) said, “At this moment, we see the Haneda route as a route to accommodate customers primarily living in the Tokyo Metropolitan Area.”

Delta Air Lines is scheduled to start new services from Tokyo’s Haneda Airport to Detroit and Los Angeles from the end of January, 2011. For Delta, Narita International Airport definitely remains positioned as the hub airport in connection with its Asia strategy. The airline’s seat capacity will, therefore, remain unchanged, the President added. Joining forces with its SkyTeam alliance partners including Korean Air (KE), China Eastern Airlines (MU), China Southern Airlines (CZ) and Vietnam Airlines (VN), Delta Air Lines stated once again that it aims to attract beyond traffic demand at the airline’s Tokyo’s Narita hub.

Presently, no Japanese carriers are members of SkyTeam, which makes it difficult for Delta Air Lines to capture traffic bound for North America via Haneda Airport from regional cities within Japan. The airline said, however, that it intends to negotiate with Japanese carriers operating to Haneda who can be possibly its partner airline.

B747-400 to Introduce New Interiors – Flat-Bed Seats in Business Class and In-Seat Entertainment System in Economy Class

Delta Air Lines plans for the renewal of its fleet of Boeing B747-400 aircraft which is primarily operated on the Tokyo’s Narita route within approximately one year starting from summer 2011. Delta will equip each of its 16 Boeing B747-400s with fully horizontal flat-bed seats in the Business class cabin and new Economy class seats with personal on-demand audio-video monitor. Its new Economy class seats will also feature wider seat-pitch and more under-seat storage.

The renewal plan is part of Delta’s ongoing equipment investment worth more than 1 billion US dollars in total. President Bastian emphasized that Delta Air Lines anticipates positioning itself as a leader among the US carriers not only in terms of the number of flights operated and destinations served, but also in terms of in-flight service.

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.