Travel Promoting

The Los Angeles Travel & Adventure Show (today's the last day) was fruitful for me as I was able to promote The Monster Movie Fan's Guide To Japan.  A lot of business cards were exchanged and several copies of the travel guide were provided.

One would think that with all the promoting I've done, people in the travel industry (especially those who are Japan travel-oriented) would already be aware of the guide.  Not so, from what I've found.  That is why anyone who has come up with a publication has to constantly promote and network so that the target audience can reached.

While at the travel show yesterday, the organizations I met with included:

Japan National Tourism Organization (JNTO). 

All Japan Tours (AJT). 

H.I.S. (Japan travel specialist with over 300 offices worldwide). 

Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA). 

Okinawa Convention & Visitors Bureau.

With JNTO, we had a deep discussion about "niche" travel markets as the Japan Tourism Agency has published the "Japan Anime Tourism Guide," which is available in several languages.   I emphasized that for many in the baby-boomer generation, their first exposure to Japan and Japanese pop-culture began through watching Godzilla and Gamera movies and the super-hero television shows such as Ultraman.

With the travel/tour specialists, I emphasized the same as with JNTO (in regards Japanese pop-culture exposure) and pushed them to consider tailoring Japan tours to kaiju enthusiasts using The Monster Movie Fan's Guide To Japan and having it available for sale to their customers..

All in all, I thought the talks with these organizations were very useful and could lead into other things in the future.

I will be doing the same at next month's Los Angeles Times Travel Show (February 23-24).