Japan Trying to Entice Chinese Tourists

. October 14, 2008

By Maya Kaneko, Kyodo News International, Tokyo

Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News

HAMAMATSU, Japan, February 24, 2006. With Japan's population starting to dwindle, the nation's tourism industry as well as the central and local governments are turning their eyes to the world's most populous country -- China -- hoping that a large number of travelers from the market with 1.3 billion people will rejuvenate Japanese regional economies.

The government of Shizuoka prefecture, the home of Mt. Fuji, is no exception. As part of a state-funded project to invite foreign travel agencies to Japan, the prefecture recently had five Chinese officials tour the area.

"Mt. Fuji is recognized as a Japanese symbol and the No. 1 tourist attraction," said Liang Bin of Suzhou Overseas Tourist Co. in China's Jiangsu Province. "You have to make sure that travelers have a good view of it regardless of weather conditions, by booking accommodations nearby."

After traveling in the central Japan prefecture in two days under the pilot tour program, Liang told Shizuoka officials at a hotel in Hamamatsu, "Japanese tea tastes differently from Chinese one. You should provide explanations on Japanese tea culture." Shizuoka is famous for its green tea production.

During the tour, Liang and four others from Shanghai, Hangzhou in Zhejian Province and Wuxi in Jiangsu Province visited Shimizu port to take a pleasure boat trip and traveled to a tea museum, Kakegawa Castle, the Shiseido Corporate Museum and the Unagi-Pie Factory run by local confectionery firm Shunkado Co.

The pie, which contains eel powder, is a popular souvenir item from Hamamatsu. The sweet was inspired by eels captured at Lake Hamana in the city. The cosmetics maker Shiseido Co. has a factory in Shizuoka's Kakegawa, near the museum.

Commenting on the pilot tour in Shizuoka, Wang Wei of Zhejiang Overseas Tourism Co. told the meeting, "It is necessary to balance visits to industrial facilities and sightseeing spots because travelers may get bored when they are guided to many factories." "The Shiseido museum is definitely appealing, but it was discouraging that the facility was not equipped with a shopping place," said Dai Yuan of a Shanghai travel agency.

Masashi Inui of the Shizuoka government's Tourism and Exchange Office, who guided the five during the tour, said after hearing their opinions that Shizuoka wants Chinese travelers to stop over in the prefecture for at least one night while moving between Tokyo and the Kansai region including Osaka and Kyoto in their tours.

The number of tourists visiting Japan from mainland China stood at 185,801 between January and November 2005, up 4.5 percent from the same period the previous year, but ranking fifth after South Korea, Taiwan, the United States and Hong Kong, according to the Japan National Tourist Organization.

The overall number of foreign visitors to Japan, including those on business trips, transit passengers and students is estimated at a record high 6.73 million in 2005, up for the second straight year.

The Land, Infrastructure and Transport Ministry, which is in charge of tourism promotion, attributes the rise to the relaxed visa requirements for South Korean, Taiwanese and Chinese nationals implemented last year.

Since 2003, the government has been promoting "Visit Japan Campaign," with the goal of increasing the annual number of foreign tourists to 10 million by 2010.

Travelers from mainland China face more restrictions than those from South Korea and Taiwan, as Japan changed its requirement in 2005 to accept visa-free short-term visits from the two economies. In contrast, Japan receives only travelers on package tours from the mainland due to Japanese authorities' concerns about security.

Liang said that typical Chinese travelers to Japan at present are wealthy people in their 30s and 40s and that honeymooners often select the country as their destination.

Because the number of people who can travel to Japan is limited, tourists from the mainland tend to buy many Japanese items as souvenirs for their families and friends. Shiseido cosmetics and electrical appliances such as digital cameras are especially popular, he said.

Major Japanese travel agency JTB Corp. has also launched new products for Chinese-speaking tourists together with Chubu airport near Nagoya and Central Japan Railway Co., the operator of the Tokaido Shinkansen Line, to cash in on not only mainland Chinese markets, but also Taiwanese, Hong Kong and Singapore markets.

The trio newly started Shinkansen tours with Chinese-speaking guide service, mainly targeting individual travelers. Since last October, JTB has also been selling Chinese-language bus tours in Tokyo.

"We have been increasing the tour items for Chinese-speaking travelers in accordance with the improvement in their income levels," said Jiro Uchida of JTB Global Marketing & Travel Inc.

Politically strained Japan-China ties have not at all affected Chinese travel demand to Japan, he added.

Uchida said the tourism industry in Japan speculates that the government will eventually accept individual mainland Chinese travelers from around 2008, with their income levels expected to rise sharply by the time China hosts the Olympic Games.

"We believe many Chinese travelers will book tours via the Internet once Japan permits individual trips from the mainland. We have to prepare Chinese websites soon," he said.

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