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Japan has nearly restored the pre-tsunami tourist flow

08:07, 28 сентября 2012

A year and a half after the most severe natural disaster in its history, Japan managed to almost completely restore its inbound tourist flow from Russia. The figures for this year's first seven months are just 9% behind those of the same period in 2010. Japan National Tourism Organization (JNTO) data shows that over 26 thousand Russian tourists have visited the land of the rising sun from January to July 2012, which is almost twice as many when compared to the same period of the "recessionary" 2011.

 

During his speech at a seminar on Japan tourism resources on the Russian market JNTO spokesman Mr. Valentin Shestak pointed out that the demand for luxury tours was the first one to come back. At the same time the number of requests for so-called "free programs", when tourists only pay for flights and accommodation to the tour operator, has grown too.

 

For the upcoming winter season Japan is offering to try its ski resorts. According to Mr. Shestak, tours to ski resorts of Hokkaido, Hakuba and Naeba are already in demand. And not only in the Far East but in Central Russia as well. This Summer the so-called Golden Route, which goes through Tokyo and Kyoto, was quite popular with the Russians.

 

Speaking of other positive trends, Mr. Shestak mentioned dramatic increase in the number of online bookings of Japan-bound itineraries. Some airlines started regular services to Japan: Aerofolot and S7 fly four times weekly from Khabarovsk and Vladivostok; besides that Transaero offers seasonal flights. It gave passengers (mostly from the Far East) the opportunity to get more affordable fairs (from €230). Emirates' flights via Dubai are becoming more and more popular as well; often they are even cheaper than the direct ones operated by Russian air carriers.

 

Valentin Shestak revealed JNTO's plans on closer cooperation with Russian travel companies. In the nearest future the visitjapan.ru website will be offering a training to help the agents sell Japanese tour product properly. In 2012-2013 season the country is going to promote its tourist resources more actively. This year, for the first time, Japan took part in the Inwetex-CIS Travel Market in Saint Petersburg.

 

A spokesmen of consular department of Japanese Embassy in Russia Nakamura Isamu shared that the consulate is working on facilitation of application procedures for Russian tour operators. Among other thing, he noted, the list of accredited companies will be extended. At the same time, the Japanese side pointed out that in future it's going to receive applications only from businesses registered as travel companies. "It hasn't yet been announced officially, but we are looking at such opportunity" - specified Nakamura Isamu, adding that today the consulate also accepts applications from visa support firms.

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