Northstar

6 | www.travelweekly-asia.com TRAVEL AGENTS In Singapore, JTB has ramped up product promotions and enhancements to generate key growth of Japanese visitors to Singapore. With a target of 90,000 visitors from April 2017 to March 2018, Kurosawa says they are confident of hitting the goal. An MOU was signed with Singapore Tourism Board in January this year. "We want to continually rejuvenate the way in which Japanese tourists experience Singapore. So we have come up with a 'kirakira' night bus concept that allows them to see the city's dazzling nightlights from a 'moving rooftop'. We will run it four times weekly with more than one bus per night. This is proving to be a popular concept," said Kurosawa. JTB has also tapped into the allure of celebrity endorsements by famous actress Emi Takei to glam up Singapore's appeal. July and August are the upcoming high seasons for Japanese visitors, and JTB expects a strong pick-up in bookings from Japan. Creating synergy Enhancing JTB's synergy in Singapore is its ownership stake in Dynasty Travel. "Dynasty Travel is a very established and trusted brand name in Singapore, and it is a good partnership that has helped to strengthen JTB's positioning here since 2014. There are now so many visitors walking into our Takashimaya branch to book tours; in fact it helps to make up over 70% of take-up rate for Japan Rail Pass in Singapore," said Kurosawa. The number of Singapore visitors buying free and easy tours including JR passes from JTB at NATAS Fairs has also increased. JTB also acquired Tour East Group in six countries in 2015 to boost inbound visitors, especially from Europe and Australia, and has deployed its new brand in Cambodia, Vietnam, Myanmar, Philippines, Taiwan and New Zealand where JTB offices are present to cover Asia Pacific. Through the enhanced network, Tour East Group is now ready to diversify the source market to catch the demand in Destination APAC. In 2017, JTB decided to ramp up its market penetration in Indonesia, and with such a vast geographic landscape, JTB has chosen the high-speed shinkansen way by establishing an outbound joint venture with Panorama Group and tapping into its vast network. It made for a perfect marriage as the number one travel group in Indonesia and Japan have come together to expand the business and contribute to the prosperity of the Indonesian tourism industry, said Kurosawa. "Since January, there has been a 45% increase in Indonesian travellers to Japan, so this has been a very fruitful relationship. This increase reflects great potential for a market that is still considered to be immature for Japan, with much upward growth to tap into as the two countries celebrate their 60th anniversary of diplomatic relations next year. "There are now 54 branches in Indonesia and that will increase to more than 60 by the end of the year under the new brand called Panorama JTB to meet the overwhelming demand," said Kurosawa. Philippines is another premature market with huge growth potential. "This market has been growing by 28% in terms of Japan-bound travel, so we will definitely be looking at expanding our growth. In fact, we have recently set up an office in Cebu for outbound travel," said Kurosawa. JTB's most recent acquisition is Kuoni Global Travel Services, which places them in pole position to tap into the projected 620 million international visitors to Europe by 2020, with China and other Asian markets driving the growth. Following these recent acquisitions and joint ventures, JTB will be focusing on harnessing the synergy among these companies to create best practices and strategies that will leapfrog JTB into the position of being the number one DMC in Asia Pacific under the slogan "Departing globally, arriving globally". JTB secures key vantage point in Asia Pacific with timely destination marketing and expansion plans, shares Billy Kurosawa, president, Asia Pacific. Finding the chi of collaboration By Esther Faith Lew "We want to continually rejuvenate the way in which Japanese tourists experience Singapore." – Billy Kurosawa, president, JTB Asia Pacific

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