*JAL decides to join oneworld, keeping benefits from the bilateral tie-ups

JAL announced on October 25 this year that it has decided to join oneworld alliance. Although it is likely to take JAL about a year to join thealliance officially, JAL expects to start possible membership services even before it becomes an official member. JAL is expected to be a leading member airline in Asia particularly, following AmericanAirlines in North America or British Airways in Europe. Other oneworld members are Aer Lingus, Cathay Pacific, Finnair, Iberia, LAN and Qantas.

This Week Headline
*JAL decides to join oneworld, keeping benefits from the bilateral tie-ups
*CTC will develop "Brand Canada" campaign in Japan next year
+"KANATA2005" was firstly offered in Nagoya
*Madrid helps Japanese tourists by adding Japanese on tourist boards
*Qantas celebrated the 85th anniversary and new regional manager for Japan
*JAL plans to serve direct charter flights to Marshall next GW
*Narita increases cargo flights during the winter schedule
*Narita slightly decreased passengers for the first half of FY2005
*Kansai handles the most international flights ever during the winter schedule
*Centrair handles more flights for winter than those for summer
*Airlines carried 1.2% more domesticpassengers for the first half of FY2005

*JATA survey: package tour bookings for Asia and China are largely down

Japan Association of Travel Agents (JATA) released on October 19 results of the survey on package tour bookings for next three months from October to December this year and package tour results for the past three months from July to September this year. The survey, which was carried out for five major travel agents of JTB, Kinki Nippon Tourist, Nippon Travel Agency, JAL PAK and Hankyu Express International, finds that bookings for North America are growing, while those for China and Asia are severely decreasing mainly because of the external negative factors, such as a series of the anti-Japan demonstrations or the Bali bombing, and of more last-moment-bookings. The same trend was also found in the results for the past three months.

This Week Headline
*JATA survey: package tour bookings for Asia and China are largely down
+Package demand for Hawaii has been down since September
*WA Tourism Minister appeals "healing" tourism to the SIT market of Japan
+Large expectation to Australia-Japan Year of Exchange
*ENIT aims to exploit local demands and to establish an information network
*ANA ties up with Japan Post to launch a new cargo airline
*Bali bombing forces JAL to shrink flights for Indonesia
*Varig will leave Japan next January
*JFAIU proposes capacity expansion at airports in the Tokyo Metropolitan
*JAL air transport result for August 2005
*Kansai international passengers leveled off in September
*NAA starts demonstrating more precise explosives inspection

*JATA dispatched an emergency mission to Bali for quick recovery

The Japan Association of Travel Agents (JATA) emergency mission visited Balion October 6 to discuss quick recovery from the second bombing withkey tourism persons. Dewa Beratha, Governor of Bali, declared in the meeting with the JATA mission, "We promise such a terrorism will never happen in Bali," showing his strong determination to prevent another terrorism. Beratha issued a statement titled "For tourists visiting Bali," in which he promised four particular actions for prevention of terrorism.

This Week Headline
*JATA dispatched an emergency mission to Bali for quick recovery
+Governor hopes the mission will communicate health Bali to Japanese people
*JTB survey finds higher overseas wedding and honeymoon demand in this autumn
+The average overseas wedding expense is higher than before
*COA strengthens sales activities for new flight services
*Passenger cancellations from Kansai to Bali are smaller than expected
*JAL Domestic places safer operation as top priority
*JAL extends code-sharing flights in domestic China
*JTA carried the most passengers ever for the first half
*SKY intends to outgrow from odds and ends to real LCC
*Star Flyer finally ensures 12 return flights daily

*Holland appeals art and architecture as key tourism elements

Netherlands Board of Tourism & Conventions (NBTC) Far East Regional Director A. Vanwell said at an interview with the Wing Aviation Press that the 400th anniversary of Rembrandt's birth will a chance for more Japanese tourists to visit Holland. Tulip is a tourist icon for Holland, however Holland's arts are now preferred by tourists. Vanwell said, "NBTC will appeal art and architecture as key tourism elements for Holland in addition to traditional tulip. I believethe 400th anniversary of Rembrandt's birth next year will be a goodchance."

XThis Week Headline
*Holland appeals art and architecture as key tourism elements
+Looking for cooperation with different industries from travel
*Rakuten Travel is selected as the most popular travel website
*HVN guarantees stable operation for the winter schedule
+HVN aims to expand customer targets
*TV commercial for Japan will be made with the U.S. promotional budget
*JAL Group changes the corporate structure for more effective business
*FIN is preparing to begin Centrair-Helsinki flights next June
*The rise of fuel price force the U.S. carriers to reduce trans-Pacific flights
*NAA will develop another taxiway for the B runway extended northward
*Centrair continued increasing passengers for August
*Galaxy Airlines is preparing to apply for a license to the Ministry next January

*JTB is establishing a sales site for world entertainment tickets

JTB recently revealed that it will launch an "integrated entertainment website" dealing with entertainment tickets worldwide in the near future to meet higher needs for musical, opera or sports overseas among baby boomer generation particularly. As the first step for the business challenge, JTB has tied up with Ticket Master, the largest ticket sales company in the U.S., to start selling ticketsof entertainment shows in Las Vegas or Major League Baseball games in this coming December. In addition, within next one year, JTB hopes to begin selling entertainment tickets in Europe, such as operaor concert, in cooperation with ticket sellers of Europe.

This Week Headline
*JTB is establishing a sales site for world entertainment tickets
+Offering 100 sorts of entertainments on its website
*U.S. DOC makes a TV commercial for Japan with the promotional budget
+Japanese visitors are expected to increase by 7% for 2005
*Japanese tourists to Hawaii decreased in August due to the limited supplies
*Japanese departures for August decreased by 2.9%
*Charter flights from Taiwan to Hokuriku have largely been increasing
*Emirates hopes to add seven flights weekly on its routes for Japan
*Narita reduced both Japanese and foreign passengers in August
*NAA resigns with New York airport authority for sister airports
*ANA deepens business relations with Shanghai Airlines
*Aichi Expo stirred up domestic flight demand in August