In a attempt to increase tourist arrivals from India, JNTO is portraying Japan as a major MICE and leisure destination in the Indian outbound market. “India is a growing economy with a lot of multinational firms. Moreover, there are a lot of Japanese companies functioning in India and we want to encourage these companies to host their conventions and events in Japan,” Motonari Adachi, Executive Director, Singapore Office, JNTO, said. According to him, Indian outbound MICE market has consistently been growing and India is emerging as an important emerging source market. “We are increasingly focusing on building the Indian MICE market to Japan and events like SATTE is an ideal opportunity for local conferences and incentive organisers to learn more about Japan as an incentive destination as well as to network with leading suppliers,” he said adding that JNTO will be targeting India’s two major metros Mumbai and Delhi. Apart from the MICE, JNTO is also aiming to tap the potential Indian leisure market. Yasumasa Shimizu, Director, Singapore Office, JNTO informed that Okinawa, Japan’s Southern prefecture, and the city of Osaka will be showcased as cultural destinations for leisure travellers. “The Okinawa beach resorts offers plenty of soft adventure activities. Osaka boasts golf resorts, spas, lots of F&B outlets, shopping malls etc which makes it a perfect leisure paradise.” JNTO is putting renewed thrust on the Indian market due to a dip in Indian arrivals in 2011. “We received 59,000 Indians in 2011 compared to 66,000 in 2010. The target this year is to increase Indian tourist arrivals to 90,000,” they informed. To achieve the target, JNTO is increasing visibility in the Indian market and it recently announced the launch of its “I like JAPAN!” campaign, exclusively on its Visit Japan official India Facebook page. Commenting on this initiative, Adachi said, “With the impressive growth of social networking platforms in the Indian market, we are pleased to initiate the ‘I like JAPAN!’ contest for our Facebook fans in India.” JNTO also aims to draw greater focus about Japan as a preferred destination for Indian outbound travellers. The Tourist Office would leverage on this opportunity to share interesting facts about Japan with the potential Indian visitors. “The Facebook page features information, photos and videos of the country’s popular tourist spots and also provides an interactive platform to inquire about and discuss various aspects of Japan,” stated Adachi. The tourism board has invited Bollywood actress, Dia Mirza to be Japan’s brand ambassador for India. Shimizu added, “Like other countries, we also want our share of Bollywood fame as it is widely known that cinema is a big influence all people worldwide. Apart from this, JNTO plans to organise FAM trips for Indian travel trade in summer and winter this year. We will soon release an online training class for the Indian travel trade which will help Indians understand us better.” JNTO is also currently in talks with Singapore Airlines to start a flight between India and Japan via Singapore.
Podcast Streaming Now
