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Travel and Tourism

You've Seen the Films, Now Visit the Set.

Japan Tourism Marketing Opportunities
- Linked to the U.S. Tourism Promotion Campaign Launched in June, 2006 -
The Commercial Service of the U.S. Embassy Tokyo is pleased to offer Japan market entry and marketing opportunities for travel and tourism service suppliers, in conjunction with the U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC) multi-media tourism promotion campaign that launched in Japan this past summer. For details, please see here.

Movie-based Advertising and Promotion Campaign with a Tagline:
“You’ve Seen the Films, Now Visit the Set.”™
The U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC) launched a Tourism Promotion Campaign to encourage Japanese travelers to visit the United States. The DOC campaign is a combination of media promotion, public relation activities/events, and TV commercials that use a Hollywood theme to promote the United States as a tourism destination to Japanese travelers. Last year, Congress appropriated $9.8 million to launch the program in Japan and the United Kingdom.

The campaign, featuring advertisements and in-store promotions, started in late June and lasted until early August 2006. Through the campaign the Japanese public was provided with information about the latest news from America’s top travel destinations. It also offered exciting chances to win attractive travel prizes that allowed the winners to personally experience the attractions of America. The campaign invited audiences to remember their favorite scenes from American movies and to feel the excitement of seeing these locations in reality when planning their vacation to the United States.

The campaign’s catch phrase was “You’ve Seen the Films, Now Visit the Set.” TM to encourage interest in American films and travel to the United States. The campaign featured destinations that have been used as the set for major Hollywood movies that have also been hugely popular in Japan. The campaign’s aim was to entice consumers to personally experience these famous locations during their visit to the United States.

DOC has partnered with the Travel Industry Association of America (TIA), on the co-operative marketing and website programs. TIA’s website http://www.seeamerica.jp/ highlights U.S. travel destinations such as Hawaii, New York, New Orleans, Chicago, San Francisco and Texas.

The U.S. Secretary of Commerce, Carlos M. Gutierrez, said: "Over the past years, many Japanese travelers have enjoyed America's culture, diversity and hospitality. With this campaign, we hope to welcome even more Japanese travelers to the United States and invite them to see the real America they know so well from the movies."

Report Highlights

(for full report, please access our Market Research Library )

Japanese Outbound Travel Market
Japan is the largest overseas travel market for the United States. In 2005, the number of Japanese outbound travelers totaled 17.4 million, an increase of 3.4 percent over the previous year. The U.S. is the most popular overseas destination for Japanese travelers, receiving more than 3.9 million Japanese travelers last year. The total market for Japan's international travel to the U.S. was US$16.5 billion in 2005.

Japanese Overseas School Travel Market
In Japan, almost all schools including primary, junior, and senior high schools, both public and private, organize school trips for their students. Although most schools organize domestic excursions, the number of high schools that have been organizing overseas school trips is increasing.

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CONTACTS

Unit Chief: Helen Peterson
Commercial Specialist: Tamami Honda