Tourism seminar held at The Shard for London-based Japanese travel trade. Yearly average of 231,800 Japanese visits and £1,024 spent per visit. Key target travellers are Japanese women in their 30s and the senior market.
Twenty London-based Japanese travel industry representatives and media attended VisitBritain’s ‘GREAT Tourism Week’ follow-up seminar at The Shard’s Shangri-La Hotel yesterday, hosted by VisitBritain’s Japan team.
The event comes after VisitBritain’s ‘GREAT Tourism Week’ travel trade roadshow, which toured the three major Japanese cities of Osaka, Nagoya and Tokyo in early July, attracting over 130 attendees. Over the last five years there has been a yearly average of 231,800 visits to Britain from Japan, with an average of £1,024 spent per visit – almost double the average across all markets.
At yesterday’s seminar attendees from travel agencies targeting Japanese visitors – including JTB Europe, HIS Europe, Jalpack and MIKI Travel – were given the opportunity to hear about the latest themes and destinations in Britain, as well as connecting with guests from ETOA, UKinbound and VisitBritain’s Japan and London teams.
Attendees were informed about VisitBritain Japan’s two key target segments of Japanese travellers: women in their 30’s and 40’s, and “Active Seniors”, as Japan is known as a country with a wealthy and healthy aging population. Travel agencies in Japan have started targeting these two groups, as women in their 30’s and 40’s often create travel trends and “Active Seniors” are fond of British gardens, afternoon tea, heritage sites and beautiful countryside.
The seminar also highlighted the current boom of British TV dramas and films in Japan and the tourism opportunity this presents, especially for the filming locations across Britain. National Japanese broadcaster, NHK, aired the first season of Downton Abbey and Season 3 of BBC’s Sherlock Holmes in May. From the end of September, NHK will also start airing a locally-made 15-minute morning drama called “Massan” for six months, featuring Japanese whisky founder Mr Taketsuru and his Scottish wife. Towards the end of 2014, the “Paddington” film will be released in Japan. Research by StudioCanale shows that, at 69%, general awareness of Paddington Bear among parents is high in Japan, and 24% of Japanese people consider themselves to be Paddington fans. These British dramas and film will be fantastic advertising as they beam Britain directly into millions of living rooms across Japan.
Keith Beecham, Interim CEO at VisitBritain, said: “London-based Japanese travel trade are highly influential ‘eyes on the ground’ for Tokyo decision makers. Our seminars provide a platform for knowledge sharing and they heighten awareness about the need to broaden our tourism offer beyond the established “Golden Route tours” between Edinburgh, the Lake District, the Cotswolds and London. In the long-term this will help create more varied Britain tourism product for Japanese tourists and, subsequently, more visits from Japan.”
Tatiana is the news coordinator for TravelDailyNews Media Network (traveldailynews.gr, traveldailynews.com and traveldailynews.asia). Her role includes monitoring the hundreds of news sources of TravelDailyNews Media Network and skimming the most important according to our strategy.
She holds a Bachelor's degree in Communication & Mass Media from Panteion University of Political & Social Studies of Athens and she has been editor and editor-in-chief in various economic magazines and newspapers.
