Mt. Fuji, Japan’s highest mountain, is one of the country’s most popular tourist attractions
The Japan Tourism Agency is giving away 10,000 free roundtrip tickets to the country in an attempt to boost its tourism industry after the March 11 catastrophe. The powerful earthquake which triggered a tsunami and a nuclear disaster left a devastated northern Japan with thousands of people killed. The events in March brought the country’s tourism industry to a drop and efforts are being exhausted to remedy the situation.
According to Japan Tourism Agency official, Shuichi Kameyama, the number of foreign visitors has dropped drastically after the earthquake and so they find it necessary to have as many people come to Japan to resolve the slide. Statistics from the Japan National Tourism Organization in August showed that there has been a 32% drop in inbound travel compared to the same month of the previous year.
Japanese city at day, at night | All Photos are from sxc.hu
The free inbound flights for next year are offered to foreign travelers but with a few conditions. Interested travelers are asked to submit online applications which details their travel plans. The tourism agency will put up a website for the said application of free tickets. Influential personalities or those who have already established themselves in the blogosphere and in the world of social media are said to be given preference. Travelers are required to document and publicize their trip to social media sites for their followers to get a grasp of Japan. Â After all, this effort is made to promote the country to apprehensive travelers and reassure them that Japan is safe to visit and that the nuclear crisis is under control.
Aside from the mentioned requirements, JTA will only shoulder the airfare leaving expenses on food, accommodation and activities to the travelers.
This 10,000 free flights project is launched in hopes of luring tourists back to Japan and for the country to recover as a leading tourist destination.
To know more about tourism projects and updates in Japan, you may visit these websites:
Japan National Tourism Organization
–Bim Legisniana
HkMix
on Oct 13th, 2011
@ 11:24 AM:
10,000 is a lot of blog posts to read. The earthquake, tsunami etc havn’t really put me off wanting to visit Japan. I guess with all the stories in the media today I expect that there is always to be an element of danger whenever I go.
pandaahsan
on Oct 13th, 2011
@ 2:48 PM:
Japan! here i come!!!
Kristina
on Oct 14th, 2011
@ 12:55 AM:
hi, I really would like to get free ticket to Japan . I always wanted go there and see the city . I am not sure where u get the application.