*JATA World Tourism Congress 2005: "Create new values and demands."

JATA World Tourism Congress 2005 was held in Tokyo on September 21 to discuss a main theme of "Rethinking Destination Marketing and Product Development," proposing to discover new values and demands of destinations by changing viewpoints or giving up stereotyped concepts. While particular cases of theme-oriented tours or value-addedproducts were reported, the Congress discussed how the travel industry can meet varying markets' needs, pointing out that a variety ofsmall-scale products, such as theme-oriented products, are actually"ineffective," and that a core revenue segment is still mass-products.

This Week Headline
*JATA World Tourism Congress 2005: ÉÅCreate new values and demands.ÉÇ
+20 million overseas tourists will be possible
+Theme-oriented products are ineffective to travel agents
*The visa wavier for Korean tourists extends up to the end of next February
*Narita agrees with IATA to reduce airport charges by about 11%
*Transport Minister is anxious about rise of fuel price
*Vladivostok Airlines will fly into New Kitakyushu
*JAL announces new code-sharing services
*Kansai largely increased domestic flight passengers in August

*The Phuket Governor visited Japan to appeal Phuket has revived

Udomsak Usawarangkura, the governor of Phuket, who visited Japan to attend "Sawasdee Phuket" event hosted by Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT), said at a news conference, "My visiting to Japan this time is to send Japanese a message that Phuket has already revived," particularly emphasizing that the resort island is well-organized to welcome tourists during this coming peak season, hasdeveloped early warning system against Tsunami and has completed world-class medical system.

This Week Headline
*The Phuket Governor visited Japan to appeal Phuket has revived
+TAT is confident that Japanese will absolutely come back to Phuket
*The largest interest of baby boomers after retirement is travel
*Reduction of Japanese travelers to China and Korea was still serious
+Saipan continuously decreased Japanese visitors
*Overseas travel transactions were down for the first time since last December
*Additional Haneda-Kimpo charters carried 95% more passengers in August
*ANA partially changes its winter international flight schedule
*JAL will double charter flights for Alaska this winter
*JAL air transport result for July 2005

*JTB tie up with Japan Post to launch a new typed travel shop

JTB recently announced that it has tied up with Japan Post to open "JTBTravel Post," a new typed travel retail shop, in Shibuya Post Office on September 27 this year. This will be the first trial of the travel industry to open a travel retail shop in a post office.JTB expects that the collaboration with Japan Post will be a pioneer to create a new travel retail shop in a limited space.

This Week Headline
*JTB tie up with Japan Post to launch a new typed travel shop
*Japan invited tourism representatives from Southern and Eastern Europe
*NWA discontinues NRT-JFK service in October due to the soared fuel cost
*JATA provides particular destination seminars to achieve the 20 million overseas travelers
*CSN will serve five charter flights on Narita-Guilin for JTB
*NAA and IATA failed to reach an agreement on landing charges again
*Centrair handled more than 1.1 million passengers in July
*ANA increased both domestic and international passengers in August
*ANA unveils a new economy class seat for domestic flights
*Star Flyer applies for a business license to the Ministry

*Tourism Department hasrequested 15.6% more VJC budget for FY2006

The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport Tourism Department has requested tourism budget of 4,799 million yen under the policy ofÉÇstrategically sending Japan brand and establishing internationally competitive tourism destinationsÉÇ for FY2006 starting April 1 2006. The budgetary request, which is 26.6% more than the budget for FY2005, includes 4,000 million yen for Visit Japan Campaign (VJC), 535million yen for Tourism Renaissance Project, 37 million yen for tourism promotion projects based on universal design and 27 million yen for improvement of interpreter and guide services.

This Week Headline
*Tourism Department has requested 15.6% more VJC budget for FY2006
+VJC focuses on the Chinese market for FY2006
+Doubling subsidy to ATA
*CAB requests 100 billion yen more budget for FY2006
*Tourism Malaysia is developing a new adverting campaign for Japan
+Expecting to welcome 5% to 10% more Japanese for FY2005
*KNT hammers out its Midterm Corporate Plan
*Bangkok Airways hopes to fly into Hiroshima in December
*China Southern revealed its intension to fly into New Kitakyushu
*Shanghai Airlines will fly into Toyama
*JAL is serious about rise of domestic flight airfares after next January
*Domestic passengers for the first quarter of FY2005 slightly increased
*Fourteen additional slots will be available at Haneda from this coming October
*Narita passengers for July reduced first time since May