The TV Holiday Programme will be featuring Japan in late March, a fact which looks set to boost bookings via specialists and mainstream operators.
The March 28 programme will follow the main tourist route, showing the hi-tech metropolis of Tokyo and the wild nightlife of the Roppongi district, as well as a traditional hot-spring resort in the Hakone region near the capital and the Buddhist temples of Kyoto.
The itinerary was put together by specialist operator KR Tours and the Japan National Tourist Organisation.
JNTO marketing manager David Hodgson said: “The programme follows the most popular route in Japan, showing what most people will do when they go on their once-in-a-lifetime trip.
“Viewers will see both ends of the market – a top hotel and a Japanese-style inn. It will show people how much you can spend at the top end of the market but also that Japan can be done on a relatively smaller budget.”
The JNTO wants to encourage British visitors to extend their holidays beyond the main tourist sites and venture to the volcanic island of Kyushu, to the southwest of the main island, Honshu.
Kyushu offers Zen gardens, castles, hot springs and the city of Nagasaki’s peace memorial park, where visitors can learn about the city’s devastation by the second atomic bomb in 1945.
To increase trade awareness of the island, the JNTO ran an educational trip last week for five specialist operators including Asian Journeys and the Japan Airlines-owned Creative Tours. Hodgson is keen for them to promote Kyushu as part of a tailor-made trip.
“We hope that when consultants speak to a client they will push the destination proactively and build it into the itinerary. Nine out of ten visitors to the country stick with Tokyo and Kyoto – we would like people to be more adventurous.”
A clutch of small, specialist operators sell Japan but agents will also find the country is back in several better-known programmes, now that the combination of the Asian economic crisis and strong pound have made the country more affordable.
Airwaves director Roger Craggs said: “In the 1980s we dropped Japan as the exchange rate was not favourable and we had virtually no bookings.
“But in the last two years we have seen improved air fares – the malaise of the Japanese economy brought prices down – so we re-introduced it last year.”
Bales Worldwide planning director Roy Davies added: “Two or three years ago we re-introduced Japan. It is never going to be a volume market but it fits the typical Bales client well – the over-50s empty-nester who is interested in culture and lots of excursions, rather than leisure and relaxation.
“And if we can take just 100 clients a year, at the price of £2,695 per head, it is worth us keeping it in the programme.”
Operators’ packages
Kuoni: a ten-night Japan and the Orient tour offers three nights in Kyoto, three in Tokyo, and four in Hong Kong from £1,436. The price includes flights with Cathay Pacific and Japan Airlines, three-star room-only accommodation and a trip on the bullet train between Kyoto and Tokyo.
Airwaves:a 10-day Japan Sunrise tour takes clients to Tokyo and Kyoto. It costs from £965, including deluxe hotel accommodation, flights with All Nippon Airlines and a transfer on the bullet train between Tokyo and Kyoto. Airport transfers are not included.
KR Tours: a twin-centre seven-night trip to Tokyo and Kyoto costs £1,235 for flights from London, three nights in a traditional Japanese inn and four nights in a luxury hotel. The price also includes a bullet train ride from Tokyo to Kyoto.