Happy New Year!
We are hoping that you have started off the new year with a great start, and would like to send our thanks to your continued support and efforts during the past year.
With much support, we were able to welcome many tourists to Japan in the year 2024, and have provided memorable stays. We welcomed approximately 250 guests, mostly from Europe, America, Australia, for a total of 2,056 overnight stays. This included tourists from Dubai who came to see sakura in Japan for their first time, a group of American university students who came to fully enjoy the culture, a group of Qatari university students who came to learn Japanese technology in a study abroad program, and a travel loving family’s first family trip to Japan. Most of the itineraries followed the Golden Route, but we were able to guide tourists to other parts of Japan such as Kanazawa, Koyasan in Wakayama Prefecture and Iwaki City in Fukushima Prefecture. Although we are still in the works of building a stronger community with local regions of Japan, we have continued to pursue our goal of connecting tourists and the local people of local regions of Japan, and we feel that our idea of ”bringing people together” is beginning to take shape.
2024 was also a year full of projects with local regions as we collaborated with local DMOs, administrative organizations, and local governments to engage in regional inbound tourism. Beginning with the Setouchi region, which includes Hiroshima and Ehime prefectures, up North we collaborated with regional DMOs in Iwate Prefecture, and down South with Hagi City in Yamaguchi Prefecture, to create model itineraries, train local guides, and provide advice on sightseeing contents.
Furthermore, we received many invitations to participate in monitor tours and FAM tours, and we even held our first in-house monitor tour to visit Niigata Prefecture with the aim of deepening understanding of the region.
In total, the areas we’ve worked with have reached 25 prefectures, and we hope to utilize our knowledge in providing more appealing experiences to tourists.
Luckily, we have grown in staff as well, and feel that we have grown stronger as an organization. We will continue to work together in a fun and positive manner, striving to further improve the value we provide, and to act as a bridge in connecting travelers with local communities, and look forward to your continued support.
We wish you all good health and happiness, and a happy new year.