WHILE JAPAN HAS NOT BEEN CONSIDERED A BARGAIN DESTINATION FOR WESTERNERS FOR DECADES NOW, the realities of the new world economy now present themselves on Asian shores, and the opportunities for occidental travelers, especially incentive groups, are increasing.
“Traditionally, much of our corporate travel and many of our incoming incentives have been in the automotive and electronics industries,” said Kazuko Toda, director of convention promotions for the Tokyo CVB. “And we have had cancellations and postponements of a year or two for a significant number of those.”
Those cancellations, along with a general cooling of demand from global leisure travellers, have created downward pressures on Japanese hotel rates, creating good value opportunities for Japanese visitors.
“We are at a point right now at which we are very competitive with other world capitals in terms of room rates and other costs,” Toda said.
To be sure, a room in a five-star hotel will still cost US$500 and upwards, but those rates are similar to costs in New York, London and Miami. And in the three- and four-star hotels in Tokyo and other Japanese cities, good values in the $200- and $300-per-night range abound.
But there’s another factor in the bargain equation right now, according to James Kent, international marketing coordinator for the Kyoto Convention Bureau, which is partnering with the Tokyo CVB in a worldwide meetings and incentives marketing campaign this year.
“You are never going to find a country whose hospitality industry is more hospitable, or a place where the local residents are more eager to welcome new visitors, than you’ll find in Japan,” Kent said.
The economy has only served to intensify that quality in Japan.
“Japan has always been a place in which the culture of service has been a revered part of the fabric of the society itself,” Kent said. “But right now, the hospitality industry—including entities such as destination management companies—is really trying to build business for the future based on its eagerness to go the extra mile with service to the customer.”
The eagerness of the Japanese to make sure that visitors enjoy their country goes beyond those who work in the hospitality industry, according to Yoshi Ohkuma, general manager of business development for JBT GMT, a destination management company with headquarters in Tokyo and offices in Kyoto.
“This is a country where if you ask someone on the street for directions, and he or she doesn’t speak English well enough to give you good directions, they will likely just walk you to the place you are seeking directions to,” Ohkuma said. “This is a place where people are happy to see visitors show interest in the Japanese culture, and they are very eager to share that culture with you.”
Consequently, the concept of the “cultural journey” has become a key part of the strategy for the Toyko-Kyoto outreach to offshore incentive groups these days.
“The magnificent culture that has developed here over thousands of years and the Japanese reverence for their history and culture gives this country something unique to offer visiting groups—the ability to readily immerse oneself in that culture,” Kent said.
Robin Hulsey, assistant vice president of Austin, Texas-based Western Life Insurance, took a group of 360 top sales achievers to Tokyo and Kyoto in May 2008 and says the cultural immersion approach was a big hit with her group.
“Our top sales people are extremely well traveled and have seen a lot of the cultural highpoints of the world,” Hulsey said, “There is no question there was a great wow factor from the cultural tourism experience they had in Japan.”