Above, Niigata, Japan. Photo by Armand Vaquer.The Daily Yomiuri has an editorial today, "Revitalize tourism industry by promoting 'safe Japan' to world."
It noted that foreign tourism to Japan is way down and that the Japanese spent their 10-day Golden Week holiday closer to home. This is the after-effects of the March 11 Great East Japan Earthquake.
The main points of the editorial are as follows:
To recover Japan's image and attract foreign tourists back to the country, the government and the private sector need to join hands to revitalize tourism.
To begin with, it is important for the country to give accurate information to the world about the current status of the crisis and steps toward stabilizing the situation. After doing this, the government must show the world that the nation's sightseeing spots are safe.
The effects of information circulated by word of mouth cannot be ignored when travelers decide on destinations. Therefore, it is also necessary for Japan to ask overseas media and travel bloggers to publicize attractive Japanese sightseeing spots. [Note: I've been doing my part in this. - Armand.]
To dispel the rumor that "Everywhere in Japan is scary due to radiation," it may help if we Japanese ourselves show the world that we enjoy sightseeing at home.
Japan Airlines and All Nippon Airways will offer major discounts in their airfares for the first time in the Bon season in August, a busy season. Travel companies are advertising plans for long-stay type tours targeting customers of companies that have decided or will decide to set longer-than-usual summer holiday periods to cope with an expected power shortage. We hope companies in the tourism industry will rack their brains to come up with plans and set prices attractive to many tourists.
The charms of the Tohoku region will grow in the coming months. Let us help the region's restoration efforts by revitalizing tourism.
Besides the above, the Japanese tourism industry needs to market tourism to various fan groups of Japanese culture and pop-culture (i.e., monster fans, anime fans, etc.). This ties in with the comment, "We hope companies in the tourism industry will rack their brains to come up with plans and set prices attractive to many tourists." As I've posted previously, the Japanese travel industry needs to think "outside of the box."
To read the full editorial, go here.
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