YOKOHAMA, Japan – Travel Agent is on site for the kickoff of Yokoso! Japan Travel Mart. The opening ceremony took place Thursday morning as the Japan Tourism Agency announced projections for 10 million overall visitors by 2010 and 20 million by 2020. Despite ongoing H1N1 flu scares in Japan, the show still produced a solid attendance thus far with nearly 20 countries represented, including more than 400 supplier companies.
Travel Agent was also on hand Monday for a press conference held by the Hokuriku-Shin’etsu District Transport Bureau, in which retiring baby boomers were called out as the number one targeted market out of the U.S. Besides the 2010 and 2020 projections, other goals by the Japan Tourism Agency include increasing the duration of Japanese domestic tourism to four nights per person annually by 2010 and increasing the number of international conferences held in Japan by more than 50 percent by 2011.
Stay tuned as we continue to report from the two-day conference, which concludes Friday. Also, read about our pre-show Hokuriku & Chubbu fam trip, which took Travel Agent to incredible sites throughout Japan’s lesser known destinations including Kanazawa, Tateyama, Toyama and Takayama and more.
For more about Yokoso! Japan, check out the video below: