Tourist Board, Japanese Travel Company Sign Agreement on PR
Travel company JTB Business World Tokyo Corp and the Slovenian Tourist Board signed on Tuesday a contract on cooperation in PR activities, aimed at increasing the number of Japanese tourists visiting Slovenia.
The one-year contract with JTB Business World Tokyo Corp, the largest Japanese travel company, is worth EUR 25,000, director of the Slovenian Tourist Board Dimitrij Piciga told the press. The first presentation made to the Japanese market as part of today's agreement will take place in September. According to Piciga, the Japanese market is very important, as its demand, also for Slovenia, is quickly rising. Three years ago some 8,000 Japanese tourists visited Slovenia, while the number amounted to almost 20,000 last year. Piciga added that the board felt confident enough to predict that the number would rise to 50,000 by 2009. The board also hopes that next year charter flights will connect the two countries, he said.
Tadashi Ichikawa, head of communication department at JTB Business World Tokyo Corp, meanwhile said that activities on this field were already underway and that charter flights next summer were a relatively realistic possibility. The board and JTB Business World Tokyo Corp also believe that Slovenian stint at the helm of the EU in the first half of next year will considerably increase the number of Japanese tourists in Slovenia.
The target group will be couples who recently retired. According to Slovenian ambassador to Japan, Miran Cupkovic Skender, the baby boom generation in Japan will start retiring now, which means 7 million people with a decent income.
Piciga explained that the main target of the cooperation would be the segment of round tours, in which Slovenia would be the starting and finishing point, as round tours were the future of transoceanic travel. Piciga added that the main task would be to expand the average time that tourists spend in Slovenia from 1.5 or 1.8 days to several days.
Head of the Directorate for Tourism at the Economy Ministry Marjan Hribar meanwhile said that tourism was an extremely important sector in Japan, as almost 20 million Japanese travelled abroad every year. Japan represents an exceptional potential for Slovenia, he said, not only in tourism but also on other areas.
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