Associations join hands

BANGKOK, 19 December 2011: The Thai Travel Agents Association has reached a three-year agreement with the Japan Association of Travel Agents to collaborate on joint promotions, data exchange and crisis management, following natural disasters in both countries, TTAA president Charoen Wangananont, reported last Friday.

Signed last week, it was the first long-term agreement between the two associations. The agreement was a response to natural disasters; the tsunami in Japan last March and massive floods that hit Thailand’s central plains October through to November.

“The agreement between the two associations will support two-way tourist traffic,” said Mr Charoen. “We expect to see an improvement in tourists, both ways over the next three years through joint activities,” he added.

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Japan offers travel incentive

BANGKOK, 23 November 2011: Japan National Tourism Organisation has waived visa fees for visitors travelling to East Japan or Tohoku regions that were hit by a earthquake and a tsunami last March.

JNTO released details of the visa waiver, Tuesday, saying it focused on three provinces — Miyagi, Fukushima and Iwate.

The move is part of a wider plan to restore tourism to the two regions. Read more

Media scolded over losses

BANGKOK, 21 November 2011: Japanese travel to Thailand started to decline in August and is now down by over 50% according to Thai – Japanese Tourism Business Association president, Anake Srishevachart.

Contrary to the positive reports given by the Tourist Authority of Thailand, Mr Anake said tourism from Japan had been floored and blames the international media for the losses.

“We are looking at a situation in November that will see us lose 80% of all bookings from Japan,” he said. Read more

Japan offer free trips

TOKYO, 10 October, 2011 – Japan will offer 10,000 foreigners free airfares to visit the country next year, in an attempt to boost the tourism industry which has been hit by the ongoing nuclear disaster, a report said Monday.

The Japan Tourism Agency plans to ask would-be travellers to submit online applications for the free flights, detailing which areas of the country they would like to visit, the Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper said.

The agency will select the successful entrants and ask them to write a report about their trip which will be published on the Internet. Read more

Hula girls reopen spa

TOKYO, 3 October 2011 – Japanese hula girls, who helped revive a former coal mining town as a Hawaii-themed spa, have returned to the resort as it reopened nearly seven months after it was damaged by the 11 March earthquake.

They danced to 21 songs, often in tears, in a “Polynesian Show” as some 700 guests cheered at the Spa Resort Hawaiians, 180 km (110 miles) north of Tokyo, as it reopened for business on Saturday, according to local media.

The resort has attracted an annual 1.5 million visitors in recent years, including many from China and South Korea. Read more

Vietnam lacks awareness in Japan

HO CHI MINH CITY, 28 September 2011 – Vietnam is still not a recognisable destination for Japanese travellers even though Vietnam’s tourist statistics place Japan among its 12 source markets according to a JTB Corporation travel specialist, Katsumi Shimizu.

Speaking at seminar after the ITE travel show, she recommended Vietnam should open a tourist representative office in Japan and take advantage of the internet to build awarenes.

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Japan’s tourism recovery slow

MATSUSHIMA, 28 September 2011 – Seagulls flock around passengers on the deck of a cruise boat, hoping for scraps; hotels and inns show no-vacancy signs and fresh oysters are served in seaside restaurants.

But despite an appearance of normality, business is far from booming in Matsushima, where serene pine-covered islands have attracted generations of tourists to an area classed as one of Japan’s three most beautiful spots.

The guest houses and hotels — in a district the Michelin Blue guide gives its maximum three stars — owe most of their business to workers helping to rebuild coastal communities shattered by the 11 March tsunami. Read more

JNTO delivers discount coupons

BANGKOK, 9 September 2011 – Japan National Tourism Organisation is making a desperate bid to rebuild demand for travel with a discount coupon deals directed at consumers.

The agency said it has recruited a record 4,000 businesses to offer discounts to international visitors, but discounts are being largely ignored by Thai consumers, who prefer to travel to the country on travel agency packages.

Discount coupons can be obtained online by visiting http://www.visitjapan.jp/eng/coupon/index.html. Tourists can print out or download coupons to mobile phones as well as download applications to use coupon via android mobiles.

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JNTO identifies new markets

BANGKOK, 29 August 2011 – Japan National Tourism Organisation will focus more on individual travellers after the agency identified they were less likely to cancel trips to Japan, post 11 March earthquake and tsunami crisis.

In the wake of the crisis, tour group business ground to a halt as Thailand-based travel agents moved their clients to safer destinations, but individuals, many of them having visited the country before, proved to be more resilient and kept to their travel plans.

JNTO’s Bangkok office is now suggesting more attention should be given to this market and encouraging travel agents to offer tours for indviduals and families. Read more

JNTO hosts travel fair

BANGKOK, 18 August 2011 – Japan National Tourism Organisation Bangkok is boosting efforts to win back travel bookings with a new visit Japan campaign that will encourage more individual travellers to revisit the country.

In Bangkok, the initiative campaign will kick off with a travel agents’ seminar linked to a travel fair, 26 to 28 August, at Hall of Mirror, Siam Paragon.

The travel agency seminar, by invitation only, will focus on presenting ideas to sell individual travel packages rather than group tour business. Read more

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