TokyoTomo Travel Guide

Seiji Maehara, re-nominated Minister for Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT) in the cabinet of the new Prime Minister Naoto Kan, gave a press interview on June 8 and briefed the ministry’s policies on aviation, tourism, and other issues. In line with the directions given by the Prime Minister, he made it clear that the policy of tourism nation is to be pursued extensively, encouraging local municipalities and communities to develop regional tourism along with enhanced solicitation of foreign visitors to Japan. As for the aviation policy, he continued, while revitalization of Japan Airlines (JAL) is an imminent task, he will also address assurance of safety and stability of air transport business and the healthy growth of the aviation industry.

What is different in the tourism policy from Hatoyama Cabinet is that Kan Cabinet is more specific and directive in promoting regional tourism and expressly gives policy priority to an increase of foreign visitors to Japan. In fact, Maehara says he has got specific instructions from the Prime Minister, which he says is an evidence that Mr. Kan attached weight to tourism no less than Mr. Hatoyama. For inbound travel, Maehara is set to strengthen promotional activities in China market and other parts of Asia to explore new type of tourism like medical tours or whatever, in addition to the conventional tourism. Moreover, holiday dispersal for leveling off seasonal peaks of domestic travel is another task for his second term of office, he added.

Regarding the aviation policy, Maehara, unveiling the fact that his seeing to the JAL’s rehabilitation is among the Kan’s directions, affirmed his active involvement in turning it around as a robust airline is his major challenge in the second term. From the viewpoint of healthy growth of airline industry, he pointed out that it is necessary to continue to tackle the problems carried over from the first term; namely, to take a new look at the government’s special account budget for airport construction, and to study feasibility of consolidated management of Kansai and Itami airports on concession basis. Review of taxes and public dues levied on airlines must be conducted to improve the business circumstances not only for JAL but for other Japanese airlines.

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.

Following the “scrutiny” of ministries’ budget requests for the fiscal year 2010, Government Revitalization Unit decided on November 16 “to freeze” the subsidy, among others, for Kansai International Airport in the amount of 16 billion yen. The purpose of scrutiny by Government Revitalization Unit is to identify and reduce wasteful ministry budget spending for the fiscal year 2010. Specifically, with regards to the subsidy for Kansai International Airport, the panel casted doubt on the effectiveness of the budget spending on its management improvement and, consequently, decided to freeze the subsidy until after a drastic solution is implemented on the three airport-operations including Osaka’s Itami Airport and Kobe Airport.

Until last year, Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT) paid the subsidy every year to Kansai International Airport in the amount of nine billion yen. For the fiscal year 2010, MLIT requested additional seven billion yen, totaling 16 billion yen to give a financial support to Kansai International Airport Co., Ltd (KIAC), laden with interest-bearing debt exceeding 1000 billion yen. In response to the subsidy frozen, Shinichi Fukushima, KIAC President & CEO, said that it is extremely regrettable, adding that the subsidy is indeed indispensable for Kansai International Airport to strengthen its international competitiveness which is directly connected with the growth strategy of the country. Should the subsidy not be granted, Fukushima stressed, the airport’s positioning would be in “an extremely grave situation” amid the fierce competitions with those international hub airports in East Asia.

Meanwhile, Toru Hashimoto, Governor of Osaka Prefecture, issued a comment that the freeze on the subsidy would be, in the long run, good for KIAC, welcoming the decision by Government Revitalization Unit. Should “stopgapping funding measure without a specific strategy” be frozen, continued Hashimoto, it should actually help promote in-depth discussion on a strategy for Kansai International Airport including role-sharing between three airports in Kansai. Then, he went on to indicate his idea time and again that Osaka’s Itami Airport be scrapped and Kansai International Airport be connected by a linear motor train with a heart of Osaka. By demonstrating such a strategy, MLIT would win public understanding in providing KIAC the subsidy as a transitional measure, he remarked.

On the other hand, if the subsidy, even with the strategy spelled out, should fail to be approved, Governor Hashimoto stressed that there would be no other way left for Kansai International Airport Co, Ltd than filing for bankruptcy, adding that Osaka Prefectural Government would “totally stop” injection of tax payers’ money into Kansai International Airport.

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.