*HKTB defines 2006 as the Hong Kong Travel Year to attract more Japanese tourists

Hong Kong Tourism Board (HKTB) recently announced to have defined a year of 2006 as the 2006 Hong Kong Travel Year, for which it will begin full-scale promotional activities in Japan from the second half of FY2005. At the same time, HKTB has revised upward the estimated growth rate of Japanese visitors for 2005 from initially 4% to 14% in comparison with 2004, aiming at 1,283,925 Japanese visitors annually.

This Week Headline
*HKTB defines 2006 as the Hong Kong Travel Year to attract more Japanese tourists
+HKTB hopes to welcome more Japanese from local regions
+55,000 rooms will be available by 2007
*TA starts the "Brand Australia" campaign in Japan
*ANA Sales defines senior, China, FIT and web sales as keywords for further growth
+Promoting a campaignto send 150,000 customers to China by FY2007
*JAL admits a series of the mishaps resulted from low awareness for safe operation
*Japan welcomed 17.8% more foreign visitors for 2004
*JAT expects to join the Haneda International PTB project
*The Ministry announces a PFI plan for Haneda international PTB
*More than 15 million passengers used Kansai through FY2004
*Narita feeder flights keep high load factors

*Madrid hammers out "Plan Japon" to attract more Japanese tourists

Madrid City of Spain announced on April 8 in Tokyo that the city will develop three-years "Plan Japon" focusing on the Japanese tourist market. The plan consists of 42 action plans, based on three core themes of security, service and promotion, to introduce a wide variety of tourist attractions in Madrid. It was made up under the strong initiative of Madrid Mayor Ruiz Gallardon in cooperation with the Japanese Embassy of Spain, JETRO Madrid office and Japanese corporations in Spain. As a candidate city for 2012 Olympics, Madrid stresses on tourism promotions worldwide, in which Japan has been selected as the first target country.

This Week Headline
*Madrid hammers out "Plan Japon" to attract more Japanese tourists
*Maldives appeals the largest support is to visit Maldives
*Accor is seeking stronger tie-ups with Club Med
*IATA hopes Narita will reduce its landing charge by 20%
*Mineta is ambitious to extend Open Sky agreements
*ANA and JAL are ready to offer in-flight broadband connection services
*ANA will take delivery of the first B737-700s in October this year
*Global Wings ties up with Air China

*JTB forecasts the mostJapanese tourists ever will go abroad in this GW

JTB reported on April 4 that the number of Japanese overseas tourists duringthis Golden Week (April 27 to May 7) is expected to reach the most ever, increasing by 13.8% to 602,000 over the same period last year. JTB also forecasts that the average expense per overseas travel is expected to be up 3.0% as long-distance destinations, such as Europe or North America, are more preferred than a year ago because of better holiday arrangement during the period. The consumption amount for overseas travels during the period is expected to total 152.4 billion yen, 17.2% more than a year ago.

This Week Headline
*JTB forecasts the most Japanese tourists ever will go abroad in this GW
*Local airports increased foreignersÉÜ arrivals for 2004
+Women foreign travelers accounted for 46.3% of all
*Visit Britain aims at 400,000 Japanese visitors for 2005
*Japan and UAE agree to expand air transport volume between both
*Qatar Airways has begun flying into Japan in cooperation with ANA
*ANA is rapidly expanding online ticket sales
*A Russian airline operates charter flights from Centrair this summer
*SKY will operate night flights on Haneda-Naha route to lure tourists
*Nissan has decided to invest 150 million yen to Star Flyer

*Recovery of Japanese departures varied with the region and the age

The Ministry of Justice Immigration Bureau reported on March 28 that thenumber of Japanese departures for a calendar year of 2004 was up 26.6% to16,831,112 over a year ago. It was even 1.9% more than the result for 2002and the second most number ever. The report, however, finds that recoveryvaried with the region and the age.

This Week Headline
*Recovery of Japanese departures varied with the region and the age
*Hankyu Group places its travel business as a center of the core businesses
*JATA focuses on eight core tasks for FY2005
*Narita possibly determines to reduce landing charge in FY2005
*Narita handles more take-offs and landings for this summer
*Kansai operates the most flights ever during 2005 summer schedule
*Narita welcomed 17% more foreign passengers for February
*Kansai enjoyed large growth of international passengers for February thisyear
*Air Do completes repayment of its debts one year earlier