The Japanese they are a changing!

The public and private sector tourism industry in Queensland is working together to attempt to stem the recent dramatic decline in the $2 billion Japanese inbound tourism market.

Negative perceptions have compounded Japan’s reduced outbound tourism, but the segments being targeted are also different to the mass coach tours of the past with adventure tours, honeymoon packages, six-star luxury experiences and school excursions being part of the activity and offering that is anticipated will change the perception that Australia has become stale and unfashionable.

Japan was Australia’s largest inbound tourism market in the 1980s, rising to a peak in 1997, with street signs in Japanese on the Gold Coast but current figures are only around the numbers of the early 1990s, well below the peak of 1997m with a crisis point being reached last year JAL discussed changing routes from Osaka to Brisbane.

Tourism Australia says that 44,500 Japanese visited during April this year and 233,600 for the year, which is a decrease of 4% compared to the same period in 2005, with operators working hard to reverse the trend.

Tourism Queensland and regional operators are leading the charge to woo the Japanese back to the State, targeting the student market, older retired travellers and pushing the spa market to attract tourists to North Queensland with operators also targeting the couple and honeymoon markets.

Tourism Tropical North Queensland CEO Rob Giason told the Brisbane Courier Mail that his organisation was capitalising on the trend for Japanese travellers to take short, action-packed holidays of about five days, adding “What we’ve cottoned on to is a trend in the Japanese market to visit short or accessible destinations that are easy to access, where they can enjoy a range of experiences.”

Gold Coast Tourism Director for Japan, Gordon Price, said the region would highlight the city as a place of “activity and excitement” instead of relying on the natural environment, adding he was capitalising on the region’s events, such as last weekend’s Gold Coast Marathon in which more than 1000 Japanese entered, highlighting the city as well as the event.  “The renewed positioning will look to profile the Gold Coast in Japan as the vibrant adventure playground that is rich in experiences of discovery and excitement and set against nature’s finest beaches and rainforests.”

Brisbane which currently enjoys a very healthy student market will continue to focus on this market.

In January this year, Tourism Australia released an industry-wide Action Plan for Japanese Tourism after the Tourism Forecasting Council revised down estimates for tourism arrivals to 2014 by 9 per cent and Tourism Queensland will release their strategy for the Japanese market later this year, with recent The Mole reports saying that Tourism New South Wales is also working closely with Queensland colleagues in recapturing this extremely valuable market.

Report by The Mole