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| (Reference) |
| Cruise-related
policies and measures |
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| March 22, 2005 |
<District
Cruise Promotion Association>
District cruise promotion Association have
already been established and are active in five regions:
Hokkaido, Kansai, Chugoku, Kyushu, and Okinawa. Their
objective is to promote cruise tourism in their region.
The members of these associations consist of businesses
that operate cruise ships, port-related entities, tourism-related
entities, and related government agencies. These members
discuss policies intended to draw attention to cruise
ships and attract tourists via cruise promotion. In order
to go one step further in dealing with efforts to draw
attention to cruise ships and attract tourists via cruise
promotion, which hitherto have been separate efforts,
they have decided their goal is to promote cruises by
dealing with issues through cooperation and partnerships
between stakeholders and reinforcing partnerships in all
business areas.
<Cruise Advisor System>
The Cruise Advisor System was set up in March
2003 by cooperation among three cruise related associations
- Japan Oceangoing Passenger Ship Association, Japan Association
of Travel Agents, and Japan Sea Travel Association. The
System already has certified 505 cruise consultants. Having
undergone six training sessions and examinations for persons
engaged in sales of cruise products, they have become
specialists with expert knowledge of cruises. Cruise advisors
(cruise consultants and cruise masters) can provide consultations
about cruises and respond adeptly to inquiries. In addition,
they can present the attractions of cruises from a wide
variety of angles through sales of cruise products. The
activities of cruise advisors are expected to further
stimulate cruises in Japan.
<Visit Japan Campaign Cruise Project>
Led by the USA, five countries/regions are treated
as priority markets, with the goal of pushing the number of
foreign visitors to Japan to the 8-million-level by 2007, and
the Visit Japan Campaign (VJC), a joint government-private sector
effort, has been launched, aimed at those markets.
As part of this effort, the VJC US Subcommittee
has decided to take on the project of attracting cruise ships
departing from the US to visit Japan as one of its projects
during the current fiscal year, following up on FY 2003. A project
team consisting of government and private-sector representatives
with specialized knowledge of cruises has been assembled to
look into ways of optimizing the benefits of the project. After
securing the approval of the US Subcommittee, initiatives proposed
by the project team will be carried out as VJC projects. Following
up on the previous fiscal year's efforts, this project set up
a Japan booth at the Cruise Convention, which was held in Miami
March 14-17, 2005, to draw the attention of cruise lines from
throughout America to visit Japan cruises.
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