Editor s Message. Market Conditions and Trends. October 7, Economy. Outbound Travel Market. Aloha!

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1 Editor s Message VOL.21 October 7, 2013 Aloha! During the month of September, Hawaii Tourism Japan(HTJ) has participated in one of the largest travel showcases in Asia, JATA Tabihaku Travel Showcase 2013, which allowed us to be in contact with 131,000 attendees. During the first day of the JATA activities, HTJ coordinated Aloha Program Seminar and Pavilion Reception. We humbly ask for all of your continuous support as we continue to expand Hawaii tourism opportunities in Japan. You are more than welcome to contact us regarding any questions, suggestions and/or updates. Mahalo nui loa! Market Conditions and Trends Economy Japan s economy continues on the road to recovery with many factors contributing to moderate growth in combating deflation. However, concerns abroad have added additional worries that must be dealt with in order to facilitate the speed of recovery. - Exchange rate between USD and JPY continue to show signs of stabilizing now between the high-90s to low- 100s further benefiting companies like major manufacturers and exports regarding corporate profits and business investment - The employment status of Japan indicated a rise in unemployment to 4.1% in the month of August a 0.3% rise compared to July, but officials are hopeful as this indicates more people are eager to seek employment - With Tokyo winning the bid to host the 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games many sectors of the economy including construction, real estate, and sportswear have realized room for growth to begin preparations for these festivities - Lingering effects from tensions with neighboring Asian nations, and other international concerns including events in Syria, Guam, and Egypt weigh on the minds of Japanese government Outbound Travel Market Trends relating to the outbound travel of Japanese consumers continued with previous month trends indicating popular destinations to be found in the regions of Europe and short-haul Asian countries, with certain regions impacted by global tensions deterring Japanese travel. - Japanese travel to popular destinations of China and Korea continue to struggle in comparison from 2012 due to territorial disputes, but have shown slight improvements - According to fall travel trend survey conducted by Japan Association of Travel Agents (JATA) the following are the top 10 popular destinations for Japanese travelers this fall season: 1

2 1. Thailand 6. Italy 2. Hawaii 7. France 3. Taiwan 8. United States of America (Mainland) 4. Singapore 9. Guam 5. Vietnam 10. Canada - Additionally this survey indicated a lot of popularity for travel from the senior segment, cruise travel as well as a continued interest in South East Asian destinations Competitive Environment With Japanese travelers being coveted by many destinations and September having the month for one of Asia s largest travel showcases, JATA Tabihaku Travel Showcase 2013, many locations particularly in the South East Asian region stepped up their efforts with respects to advertising and PR to bring more awareness to for their country. - Malaysia s tourism organization put together billboard advertisement at Shinagawa station that can be seen by the nearly 450,000 people who utilize the station daily - Guam s visitor bureau is celebrating their 50 th anniversary and collaborated with Time Out, a world living guide, to release a guide book entitled 50 things you can do only in Guam distributed in major cities of Tokyo, Osaka, and Nagoya - Areas such as Korea, Taiwan, and Las Vegas utilized JATA Tabihaku Travel Showcase 2013 to announce the use of Japanese celebrities as their spokesperson to promote their areas to Japanese consumers - Tourism Authority of Thailand has been working with travel agency to appeal Thailand as a destination to consider Consumer Trends Noticeable consumer trends in the Japan market indicated increase interest in television viewership and purchasing of new mobile devices, which will be highlighted in the media trends section of the report. Additionally, with the Halloween season approaching and Japan now being more open in celebrating this type of festivities, many Japanese consumers are getting into the spirit of this holiday. - Tokyo Disney Parks celebrated their 30 th anniversary this year and between September and October they celebrate with a Halloween event attracting many Japanese travelers to enjoy the Halloween atmosphere - As this holiday season continues to grow in popularity, a multitude of different festivals and events leading up to Halloween night have begun popping up all over Japan Media Trends Usage of online media as well as mobile devices has been on the rise in Japan supported by the release of the iphone 5 as well as the growing popularity in the Japanese drama series Naoki Hanazawa. - Within the month of September, Apple released their new series of iphone that sold 9 million devices worldwide within the first three days. With this announcement, the top three of Japan s carriers (Softbank, NTT DoCoMo, and au/kddi) offer this to their clients increasing the amount of Apple devices available in the Japan market - Japanese TV drama Naoki Hanazawa aired in Japan between July and September and was able to obtain high viewership ratings averaging around 30% with the finale surpassing the 40% viewership mark. From word of mouth, the show s popularity grew enough to where websites such as YouTube were used to rewatched episodes that were missed in the series 2

3 Airlift The airlift situation out of Japan indicates a lot of interest from regional areas that do not have direct flights to conduct charter flights connecting to Hawaii during Q4 and early Japan Airlines indicated the following character service schedule for late November to December with fourteen or fifteen additional services for the winter holiday with. These flights will make use of Boeing aircraft that can hold 237 passengers accounting for approximately 4,270 additional pax for winter - Date Point of Origin 11/21 Matsuyama 11/25 Hiroshima 11/29 Yamaguchi Ube 12/31 Hiroshima - Korean Air Lines announced charter services will connect the districts of Komatsu, Aomori, Akita, Shizuoka, and Kagoshima to Hawaii for the winter holidays. Airbus will be used holding 276 passengers accounting for approximately 1,400 additional pax. - China Airlines and Hawaiian Airlines have also been discussing the possibility of charter services out of Kansai International Airport for the end of year Consumer Events JATA Tabihaku Travel Showcase 2013 (9/12-9/15) HTJ s participation in one of the largest travel showcases in Asia allowed us to be in contact with over 131,000 attendees who participated in the three days that the event hall were opened. For this year, seventeen partners participated in our combine efforts to promote Hawaii as an ideal travel destination to the Japanese consumers. The objective of our participation in this event relates to our ability to reach a grand amount of direct consumers, business entities, and media in order to accomplish the following: - Increase knowledge about all that Hawaii has to offer including information about direct flights and interisland flights, neighbor island information, and what s new with Hawaii - Continue to develop the branding of each island message through interactive displays to educate the unique charm of all of the Hawaii Islands to stimulate improved island distribution of the Japan market - Provide more in-depth information about what is available in Hawaii with direct discussions and collaterals including maps, brochures, flyers, and etc. - Create opportunities for consumers to experience and learn about Hawaii through seminars, workshops, and stage performances - Develop a deeper awareness in our target market about resources where they can acquire more information about Hawaii including Facebook, Hawaii-TV, Mail Magazine, YouTube, and etc. As attendees to our pavilion could acquire a clearer image of what Hawaii has to offer and our partners being able to provide more in-depth information to these consumers directly, this year s event was a great opportunity to further establish Hawaii as an ideal destination for Japanese tourist to visit for their next vacation. 3

4 Trade Events JATA International Business Meeting 2013 (9/12) This business meeting allowed for 350 companies (610 participants) representing different organizations to meet up with one another to discuss future business opportunities and at this session HTJ s sales team was able to meet up with the following companies. At these meetings it allowed HTJ the opportunity to provide updated information about Hawaii and introducing all of the resources that can be utilized to further their knowledge including the new Hints of Safe Trip e-brochure created by HTA. Additionally these companies were able to express their future ideas for the market with a heavy emphasis placed on upcoming MCI opportunities. JATA Tabihaku Trade Day Activities (9/13): Aloha Program Seminar & Pavilion Reception During the first day of JATA activities, HTJ coordinated the following two activities focused on educating our partners, cherishing fellowship and comradely, and developing new future partnership. During the afternoon, HTJ put together two Aloha Program Seminars focused on new employees that are working on and supporting the Hawaii. Not only did they learn, but received a test for the beginning level of our Aloha Program to have them become certified as a Hawaii Specialist. With this month being a renewal of the web site and tying into our November activities, this was a good way to introduce what changes are happening with our online resources and what our partners can be anticipating in the future including tools like Hawaii-TV. As the day s activities winded down, HTJ hosted our Pavilion Reception that brought together over 100 attendees to thank them for their continued support of Hawaii and provide a platform in which these attendees could communicate with major key-people from each travel agency. In addition many of these connections made at this pavilion reception created necessary stepping stones for companies to begin collaboration on future ventures that will support the Japan market in Hawaii. Social Media HTJ s Facebook page continues growing in terms of our fan base as we provide our consumers with information about what is currently happening in Hawaii Total Fans reached surpassed 24,000 (24,268) people with a healthy increase mainly contributed to efforts at JATA Tabihaku Travel Showcase 2013 Conducted our 2 nd photo contest at JATA to increase the interactions that we had between our fans and thank them for their continued support and interest in Hawaii Following the guidance of HTA s social media advisors, HTJ began our efforts in shifting the communication style utilized on our Facebook website which will begin in October 4

5 Instead of utilizing specialist, HTJ will handle posts that focus on events and sceneries while directing fans to our online tools Upcoming Events Travel Trade & Media Projects 10/2 Central Wholesale Committee Meeting 10/3 Hawaii Island Study Session at HIS Shinjuku 10/5 Outbound Travel Fair 2013 Sapporo 10/9 HPCE, AB Road Study Session of Thailand and Hawaiian travel market 10/10-12 Sales Blitz in Fukuoka 10/19-20 RKB Radio Festival 2013 Fukuoka 10/19-20 Sora-Tabi Fair in Sendai 10/20-25 Hawaiian Airlines/HTJ FAM tour on Hawaii Island & Maui 10/21-11/1 Delta Air Lines/HTJ FAM tour on Oahu Radio Promotion (monthly) FM North Wave (Hokkaido) Every Sunday 15 min (9:00-9:15) RKB (Fukuoka) Every Sunday 10 min (17:50-18:00) InterFM (Tokyo & Yokohama) Every Saturday 120 min (8:00-10:00) Date FM (Sendai) Every Thursday 10 min (16:35-16:45) Shonan Beach FM (Kanagawa) Every Saturday 10 min (9:00-9:10) Thank you for reading our HTJ Newsletter! Should you have any questions, please refer to our contact information below. Address: 1600 Kapiolani Blvd Suite 723 (Pan Am Bldg), Honolulu, HI Tel: (808) Fax: (808)