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Thursday, 09 January, 2020, 12 : 17 PM [IST]
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‘MICE movement from India has potential to be a very big market for Japan’
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Recognised as one of the
25 Most Influential People
in the Meetings Industry, Etsuko Kawasaki, Executive
Director, Japan Convention
Bureau, Japan National
Tourism Organization
(JNTO) was responsible
for launching Japan's MICE
branding campaign with
a tagline "New Ideas Start
Here" to increase recognition
both at home and abroad. The
campaign differentiated Japan's
business events from general
tourism, and featured why
organisations take their
meetings to Japan. She spoke
to Sumit Jha about the current
vision and future plans for
attracting MICE movement
from the India market.
Q Japan National Tourism
Organisation (JNTO)
through Japan Convention Bureau
has actively started promoting
Japan as a MICE destination to the
Indian market. What is the current
vision and the future plan for the
Indian market?
We have recently started to promote
our nation in the Indian market.
We opened our India office in 2018
and honestly speaking we need to
learn more about the geography
and also the demography of the
MICE industry in India from now
on. I believe India is a rapidly
growing country which has a very
strong automobile and appliance
industry. Given the industrial
growth and other dominating
factors, we believe that India
has the potential to be a very big
market for us in terms of MICE
movement.
For people in India, Japan is
a very new destination. So far
people have visited only some of
the major big cities of Japan like
Tokyo and Kyoto. We have many
more interesting and unique cities
besides these two. We would like
to introduce those small but very
attractive unique destinations to
the Indian people and would like
to invite them as individuals and
through their organisations to
explore these places.
From our infrastructure
perspective, across the country,
there are dozens of governmentappointed
International
Convention Cities which have
meeting facilities, hotels, research
centres, universities and so on
to be utilised for international
meetings. Besides these, there are
unique venues specially crafted to
give an additional local flavour to
the events.
Q What kind of numbers, in
terms of tourist inflow, are
currently coming in from India,
with reference to only MICE?
As of now we don't have any survey
or statistics focused on MICE
movement into Japan. However,
as an estimated figure, from across
the world, we host about 2 million
visitors coming to Japan for MICE.
Q The target was to get to 40
million visitors by the end
of 2020, Tokyo Olympics and
Paralympics year. How far has it
been achieved?
So far we are having a very good
turnout and based on that we
believe that the target of 40 million
is not a distant dream. We have a
possibility of achieving that target.
We of course need the support
from Indian tourists and visitors
from across the world to be able
to reach to our target.
Q What strategies are in place
to attract more people from
India?
We need to get good exposure in
the Indian media and publications
reaching out to the travel planners
and consumers so that they are
more aware of the offering from
Japan. Our department focuses on
sales and marketing to travel agents
and corporate travel managers.
Keeping an eye on promotions, we
organise individual familiarisation
trips for travel planners who have
prospective clients to send people
from India. There are also some
promotional schemes being rolled
out to make it attractive for the
travel professionals to prioritise
Japan as their preferred MICE
destination.
We have a separate department
that focuses on leisure promotions
in India.
We are working closely with
them to give good exposure of
our country - highlighting tourist
attractions, our culture and
activities, to the Indian market.
Q What specific steps are being
undertaken, keeping the
Indian visitors in mind?
We have to learn more about
the history, background and the
unique food and business culture
of India. These are very different
from the Japanese culture. To
get everything in order and work
closely, we must understand
what we have to be aware of,
what we can offer and what we
should not. We understand that
our food habits are very different
and thus have been very careful
in arranging programs for Indian
citizens, especially in the food
segment. This is a different and
unique point in comparison to other
markets. We do our best to care
about food preferences and unique
cultures of demographics of
different countries to continue to
learn more about what needs to be
adapted. At the same time, we are
also encouraging our suppliers to
learn how to deal with and make
contracts with Indian clients, which
again is very different from what
we are used to.
Q From a reciprocate point
of view, and to learn more
about the cultures of each other,
is there enough push in terms of
more people from Japan travelling
to India?
Nowadays Yoga has become one of
the most popular activities in Japan.
Women have started to learn Yoga
to keep good health. We are aware
that Yoga has originated from India
and thus there are many people
travelling to India to learn more
about Yoga. The nature and culture
of Indians is very different from our
own. People from here travel to see
and learn more about Indian culture
and traditions. Also, we have a big
Buddhist community, ideas which
also come from India.
Many Japanese believers travel to
India for exploring more about that
too.
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