*Japan-China Tourism Exchange Year is officially kicked off

An opening ceremony for Japan-China Tourism Exchange Year 2006 was held in Tokyo on March 10, joined by a Chinese delegation, which consisted of about 80 tourism-related members, including China National Tourism Administration (CNTA) Vice Chairman Zhang Xiqing. At the ceremony, Hiroshi Maruyama, Vice Minister for the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, said, "Tourism exchange between Japan and China was inactive in 2005. However, the Japan-China Tourism Exchange Year is a big chance to expand tourism exchange between both nations this year and toward the 35th anniversary of diplomatic normalization between Japan and China next year."

This Week Headline
*Japan-China Tourism Exchange Year is officially kicked off
+Ambassador Wang Yi values tourism exchanges for diplomatic improvement
*NTS places DP Tabist as the second core business
+Next step is a complete online procedure including payment
*Rakuten Travel begins a campaign for its DP products
*JCB will start Hawaii Project under the auspices of HTJ
*JAL nearly achieves its e-ticket rate of 40% on international flights
*ANA and SWR agree on comprehensive tie-ups
*Domestic local flights decreased passengers for 2005 despite the open of Centrair
*New Kitakyushu Airport opened, Star Flyer started flight business
*Airlines enjoyed high load factors on Kobe flights for the first month
*Kansai could not stop decrease of international passengers