*JNTO reports foreign visitors reached more than 6 million for the first time

Japan National Tourist Organization (JNTO) recently reported that the numberof foreign visitors into Japan increased by 17.9% to 6,143,000 for a calendar year of 2004 over 2003. It was the first time for foreign visitors to reach more than 6 million. The large expansion resulted from effective Visit Japan Campaign promotions, exemption of tourist visas from Hong Kong visitors, exemption of visas for study trips from Korean and Chinese visitors and extension of regions available for group tourist visas in China.

This Week Headline
*JNTO reports foreign visitors reached more than 6 million for the first time
*HTJ introduced "Discover Aloha" campaign to travel agents
+"Discover Aloha" focusing on Hawaii's indigenous cultures,history and spirits
*Sri Lanka and Maldives: "The largest support is to visit for sightseeing."
*ANA stresses on China and more effective operation for FY2005
*Narita exceeded 30 million passengers for 2004
*CJIA will finally open with 293 international flights weekly
*ANA and newcomers increased domestic flight passengers for December 2004
*SKY sues the Minister of Transport for the ADO's matter

*Trilateral tourism talks will be held by ministers of Japan, China and Korea

Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport Kazuo Kitagawa and Director of the China National Tourism Administration (CNTA) Shao Qiwei agreed to launch trilateral tourism talks by tourism ministers of Japan,China and Korea in 2006, when they met in Kunming on November 23 this year. The first venue may be Hokkaido.

This Week Headline
*Trilateral tourism talks will be held by ministers of Japan, China and Korea
+Working-level meeting will be held to discuss details for the Tourism Exchange
*Japan-Russia tourism exchange programs will be jointed by private sectors
*Club Tourism hopes to list its stocks on the Tokyo Stock Exchange
*NAA increased revenue and profit despite slight reduction of passengers
*Narita South Wing will open on June 2 next year
*Narita reduced passengers for four consecutive months
*Haneda-Kimpo charters are increasing individual passengers
*JAL becomes the first customer for Boeing AHM in the world
*JAL air transport result for September 2005
*JAL air transport result for the first half of 2005
*JAL selects GEnx for its 30 Boeing 787s

*Kinki and Yomiuri tie up for sales activities

Kinki Nippon Tourist and Yomiuri Travel Service announced on January 11 this year that both travel agents tieup for sales activities on domestic and overseas travel products. Taking advantage of Yomiuri's high values on bus travel and cruise products particularly and Kinki's more than 300 retail shops nationwide and highly preferred wholesale products, each aims to expand a sales network.

This Week Headline
*Kinki and Yomiuri tie up for sales activities
*Kinki opens the Global Business branch to strengthen the inbound travel business
*Cruise Vacations starts a GSA business for CUNARD LINE
*Transactions of fifty major travel agents increased for November 2004
*ANA strengthens its management under the new presidency
*JAL Group will increase flight services for Korea, Taiwan and Russia in FY2005
*ANA ties up with VISA for an identification service
*JAL expands code-sharing tie-ups with KAL
*Kansai marked the most international taking-offs and landings ever for 2004
*Nagoya Airport modifies PTB exclusively for small aircraft

*LOOK JTB Long Vacationfor Hawaii will be on sale first

JTB World Vacations will begin selling a new LOOK JTB product "Long Vacation" for departures in March next year in this coming December. With the new product, JTB will propose slow and relaxed itineraries. The first destination for the product is Hawaii, and then JTBwill extend destinations for the product to Europe and North America from the first half of FY2006.

This Week Headline
*LOOK JTB Long Vacation for Hawaii will be on sale first
+Extending Long Vacation to other destinations
*Visit Britain focuses on baby boomer males for "Happy Britain"
+2006 is expected to be a promising year for Britain
*Taiwan will soon welcome 1 million Japanese visitors this year
*ANA CEO is against JAL's code-sharing agreements with THA and ANZ
+ANA pays attention to the SKY's experiment to become a real LCC
*Centrair upwardly revises financialoutlook for a full year of FY2005
*Kansai already posted more ordinary income than the full year target
*Kansai exceeded 200 million passengers in the 11th year
+International flightpassengers reduced by 2% for October
*SKY has revised downward the financial outl0ok for a full fiscal year
*SKY posted net profit of 1,027 million yen for the first half
*NCA has ordered additional 14 B747-8 freighters

*New Year interview with JTB President

JTB will enter a new stage with its newbusiness structure

JTB decided last year to establish a new business structure under a holding company system and with several business companies in April 2006. It was a big and symbolic announcement for the travel industry last year. JTB, the largest travel agent in Japan, has actively reformed its business group structure so far. The Wing Travel Weekly had a chance to interview with JTB President Takashi Sasaki, mainly focusing on why JTB made a big decision to transform into a holding company system or what JTB is seeking in the future.

This Week Headline
*New Year interview with JTB President
+Thorough capital investments to new companies
+Offering different values by market
+Evolution from JTB for Japan to JTB for Asia
*Japanese departures for 2004 was second most ever
*More short-haul international flight passengers during New Year holidays
*JAL and ANA join the e-passport validity test
*SAS starts an in-flight broadband internet access service
*JAL air transport result for November 2004
*SKY is officially approved Haneda-Kansai flights

*JAL invests 60 billionyen for safe operation to recover reliability

JAL CEO Toshiyuki Shinmachi announced at a news conference on November 7 that JAL Group has drawn up a corporate reform plan in order to recover reliability from customers, as it has suffered from worse financial conditions because of the safe operation issue and the rise of fuel price. The reform plan consists of investment to safer operation, improvement of service qualities and reinforcement of business infrastructure.

This Week Headline
*JAL invests 60 billion yen for safeoperation to recover reliability
*Loss of passengers and rise of fuel price damaged JAL for the first half
*Online travel company GTO is confident of extending dynamic packages
+Thoroughly seeking "Everyday Low Price"
+Need to increase name value
+Dynamic package will possibly be the third revolution in the industry
*Tourist demands for China and Korea were still inactive for September
+Malaysia and Vietnam were preferred
*JTB slightly decreased transaction value for overseas travels
+Customers for China is recovering step by step
*Passenger shift from JAL helped ANA add revenue of about 5 billion yen
*SNA relies on ANA to improve its profitability
*CAL will begin serving daily flights for Hiroshima
*JTA marked increases both in revenue and profit

*JTB forecasts Japaneseoverseas travelers will reach 17.4 million for 2005

JTB released the travel forecast for 2005 on January 6, reporting that the number of Japanese overseas travelers will increase by 3.6% to 17.4 million over 2004. The aftermaths of tsunami disaster in Southern Asia may not give a large effect to the travel industry because Japanese travelers for the region usually account for just 2% of all travelers, according to the JTB report. The report also finds thatthe number of foreign visitors to Japan will largely up 16.4% to 7.1 million over 2004, and the number of domestic travelers will slightly increase by 1.9% to 327 million over 2004.

This Week Headline
*JTB forecasts Japanese overseas travelers will reach 17.4 million for 2005
*Group tourist visa will be issued in the whole China during Aichi Expo
*JATA Chairman determines to accomplish the goal of 17 million overseas travelers
*Administrative Vice Minister intends to increase charter flights for Kimpo
*JAL and ANA will introduce fuel surcharge on international flights
*ANA will expand code-sharing operations with Asiana
*Airlines reduced seats and passengers of domestic flights for November
*Narita marked the most monthly passengers ever in November
*Kansai recovered well internationalflight passengers for November