To amplify their outreach in India, Japan National Tourism Organization (JNTO) conducted its annual ‘VISIT JAPAN ROADSHOW 2019’ in Mumbai and Ahmedabad on 29th and 31st August respectively. Aiming at strengthening the relationship with the travel and trade fraternity, the roadshow was attended by 16 delegations who interacted with about 230 travel agents in both the cities.
JNTO along with representatives from Hotels, Resorts, Attractions, DMCs and Airlines participated in the roadshow to showcase and promote their products to the travel trade in both cities. Stakeholders present on the roadshow were All Nippon Airways, Asahi travel service pvt.ltd, Asiaclick, H.I.S. Travel, Japan Dream Tour, JR East View Travel Service Co. ltd., Nippon Travel Agency (NTA), Scenic Japan Tours, United Travel Support, YIDA.Co.ltd, JTB India, Prince Hotels & Resorts, Tobu Hotel Group, Tokyo Skytree, Yokohama City, Japan Air Lines, and Singapore Airlines.
On the roadshows, the interactive platform with prefixed meetings allowed trade partners and travel agents to network and learn more about the diverse product offerings and experiences that Japan has to offer. The roadshows were well attended and received a remarkable response in each city.
Yusuke Yamamoto, the newly appointed India Executive Director, JNTO said, “Over the last few months, we have received a phenomenal response from India. Inbound tourist arrival from India has significantly increased and we intend to create as much awareness as we can. Although we are observing a steady year-on-year increase in tourist arrivals to Japan, yet there is so much left to explore to increase this figure further. I have joined this new role last month and with India being such a vast market, everyday comes with a new learning. Through our varied initiatives this year, we are anticipating a steady increase in arrivals from India.”
In 2018, Japan witnessed 14.6% growth in Indian tourist arrivals with 1.54 lakh travellers visiting the country. Keeping up with this growth trajectory, Japan has already witnessed a 14.3% increase in the period of January to July 2019 with 106,200 Indian visitors to Japan in comparison to 92,937 during the same period in 2018.
To catalyze JNTO’s market presence, the tourism board is taking part in numerous joint promotional activities with the biggest stakeholders in the Indian travel fraternity. They are also collaborating with Airline partners to promote Japan directly or via connecting destinations with them. In order to create a 360-degree awareness approach, JNTO is also advertising in the trade and consumer media.
In the month of July and August, JNTO organized a media and travel trade familiarization trips to give them a firsthand experience. In an attempt to promote Okinawa as a wedding destination, JNTO took few influential wedding planners to the Okinawa prefecture in the month of March for a recce. After receiving a positive response from the Indian wedding planners, JNTO also organized a wedding seminar in Delhi only for the Indian Wedding Planners community.
JNTO is also confident that the destination will further witness growth from the south Indian market with the launch of All Nippon Airways direct flights from Chennai to Tokyo from October 27th. Subsequently, in 2020 Japan Airlines will start its direct flight from Bengaluru to Tokyo. This would be the first time Southern part of India will get direct flights to Japan and of course, encouraging more number of Indian travelers to Japan.
