Haneda-Beijing Charter Service Launching In October

TOKYO (Nikkei)--Charter flight service between Haneda Airport and Beijing Capital International Airport will start on Oct. 25, Minister of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism Kazuyoshi Kaneko told reporters Tuesday.

There will be two flights a day from Haneda (Tokyo International Airport) to Beijing, as well as two from Beijing to Haneda. Most of the travelers are expected to be businesspeople.

The route was agreed on at a bilateral summit held in April.

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Casio To Stop Flying Goods From China To Cut Emissions

TOKYO (Nikkei)--Casio Computer Co. will by next spring stop using airplanes to transport most finished products from its Chinese factory to Japan, in a bid to reduce carbon dioxide emissions more than 20-fold, company sources said.

Casio currently sends electronic dictionaries, digital cameras and other goods from a plant in Zhongshan, Guangdong Province, by air to a distribution center in Suzuka, Mie Prefecture. Now, these products will be shipped via train and boat instead.

The firm recently began using the new system to ship electronic keyboards on a trial basis. The cargo is sent by rail from Shenzhen to Shanghai, and then by boat to Hakata in Kyushu, Japan's southernmost main island.

Casio emits 440 metric tons of CO2 for every 100 tons of cargo it flies from the Zhongshan factory to Japan. By using the train-boat combination, emissions will be slashed to 20 tons. Furthermore, shipping costs will fall by more than 20%.

The company is using trucks to transport the keyboards from Hakata to the Suzuka distribution center for the time being, but it will consider shipping them by rail to further reduce emissions.

It takes seven days to transport the cargo by rail and sea, compared with three days by air. For this reason, Casio will continue using airplanes to process rush orders.

As major Japanese manufacturers increase their overseas production, their distribution-related CO2 emissions are increasing steadily. Against this backdrop, firms are expected to step up efforts to reduce such emissions.

(The Nikkei July 13 evening edition)

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Wealthy Chinese Tourists Start Arriving In Japan

SHANGHAI (Nikkei)--On Wednesday morning, 66 Chinese people departed here and three other cities on flights bound for Japan, making them the first to take advantage of the government's decision to issue tourist visas to wealthy Chinese individuals.

Ten of the travelers left from Shanghai Pudong International Airport, headed for Narita International Airport and Kansai International Airport. Before these departures, the Japan National Tourism Organization presented welcome bouquets to the tourists at an airport ceremony.

A 16-year-old high school student traveling to Tokyo with her mother and grandmother said she wanted to visit Tokyo Disneyland and shop at department stores.

Other tourists left from the cities of Beijing, Guangzhou and Hangzhou.

Japan began accepting applications for individual tourist visas from Chinese nationals at its embassy and consulates here on July 1. In a bid to head off illegal overstays, the government's guidelines hold that applicants should have an annual income of at least 250,000 yuan (3.5 million yen).

The expected influx of wealthy Chinese tourists could give the Japanese tourism industry a much-needed boost.

(The Nikkei July 8 evening edition)

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Tourist Visas For Chinese Individuals Off To Strong Start

SHANGHAI (Nikkei)--A total of 142 Chinese citizens applied for tourist visas to Japan on Wednesday, the first day that such applications could be filed.

For Chinese citizens, visas for pleasure purposes were previously issued only when traveling as part of a group. By offering visitor visas to Chinese individuals with a certain level of income, the Japanese government hopes they will spend a big chunk of money in Japan.

Visa applications were filed at the Japanese embassy in Beijing, as well as at consulates general in Shanghai and Guangzhou. Some of those who applied for individual visas on Wednesday are set to travel to Japan on July 8.

To prevent unlawful overstays, the Japanese government has set up certain criteria for issuing the visas, including a yearly income of 250,000 yuan, or about 3.5 million yen.

(The Nikkei Business Daily July 3 edition)

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ANA's Travel Unit Targeting Independent Chinese

TOKYO (Nikkei)--ANA Sales Co., a travel agency owned by All Nippon Airways Co., is scrambling to cater to people from China, particularly those independent travelers who are expected to arrive in droves now that Tokyo has decided to issue tourist visas to wealthy Chinese.

Chinese tourists are coming to Japan in increasing numbers, traveling to such destinations as this ski resort in Hokkaido.

Chinese are heading overseas in record numbers, providing some comfort to the recession-hit global tourism industry.

ANA Sales has partnered with a Chinese travel agency to develop about 20 new tours tailored to such independent travelers; the plan is to market them in that country through local agencies.

One of the tours is a five-day trip around eastern Hokkaido, where a small bus takes the visitors to spots like crystal-clear Lake Mashu and the Abashiri Prison Museum. The package includes meals featuring popular Japanese fare such as sushi and crab dishes. ANA flights are used to bring the customers from China to Hokkaido via Tokyo.

Meanwhile, a four-day tour to the city of Hakodate offers a splendid night view of the lights from the eponymous nearby mountain, as well as a sightseeing bus from Hakodate to the capital city of Sapporo.

"We have planned these packages based on Hokkaido tours that have proved popular among tourists from Taiwan and Hong Kong," said the ANA Sales executive in charge of Japan tours.

Tailored treatment

Typically, group tours in Japan for Chinese tourists follow the so-called "Golden Route" of Tokyo, Mt. Fuji and the western Kansai region where Kyoto and Osaka are located.

In contrast, ANA Sales is expanding its product offerings and options to meet the diverse needs and tastes of independent Chinese travelers.

One new option allows the visitors to tour Tokyo and neighboring areas in a hired car with a translator. One possibility for those who book the service for 12 hours is shopping at the Gotemba Premium Outlets complex after sightseeing in nearby Hakone, a popular hot springs resort outside of Tokyo.

Such options are designed to offer a more personalized, flexible experience than is available on group tours.

ANA Sales is taking various steps to make Chinese tourists feel welcomed and comfortable. In July, the firm will launch a service to send Chinese-speaking employees to greet tourists at four airports, including Narita and Kansai.

The company is asking its partner hotels to put up helpful signs in Chinese. Such a move may be welcomed by independent tourists who are traveling without the help of bilingual tour guides.

In China, Japanese firms are not permitted to market tour packages directly to Chinese consumers. As such, ANA Sales has been approaching local travel agencies in hopes of partnering up.

Big opportunity

The explosion of foreign travel among China's 1.3 billion people offers an opportunity that the international tourism industry is loathe to pass up.

While overall foreign arrivals to Japan have fallen sharply amid the global recession, the inflow of Chinese tourists has continued to rise. In the first four months of this year, some 380,000 Chinese visited Japan, up 5% year on year, according to the Japan National Tourism Organization.

For ANA Sales, domestic tours for foreigners account for only a fraction of overall revenue. The company hopes to raise the ratio fivefold come 2012 by attracting more Chinese tourists.

Meanwhile, ANA Sales is also bolstering its China packages for Japanese. In April, the company once again began offering Sichuan Province tours that include panda viewing and a trip to the Jiuzhaigou Nature Reserve. This offering had been suspended for almost a year after the terrible earthquake of May 2008; the package is now priced nearly 30% lower than before.

"China tours have traditionally been popular mainly among older Japanese, but we are now seeing more young women join in," said an executive at the company's Tokyo branch.

In March, ANA Sales launched new package tours to Beijing and Shanghai that feature business class plane seats.

Nearly half of ANA's international flights involve Chinese destinations. ANA Sales is trying to capitalize on such group assets to more fully tap China, which is expected to play an increasingly important role in the Japanese tourism industry.

If ANA Sales' new package tours indeed prove a hit, one additional benefit could be a reduction in the number of vacant seats on ANA's international flights.

--Translated from an article by Nikkei staff writer Yuta Asomura

(The Nikkei Business Daily June 22 edition)

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China announces changes to travel laws

China this week released the long awaited new regulations for the travel industry to protect the rights of Chinese travel consumers against shopping tours and ensuring their safety when travelling.

In the ten years that the Chinese outbound travel industry has been developing, this is the first real effort to tighten up what have long been illegitimate practices harming the reputation of the Chinese travel industry. The announcement comes as the ongoing practices have increased over recent years within the Chinese travel industry, both domestically and outbound.

Premier Wen Jiabao by Order of the State Council of the People’s Republic of China announced the important sweeping changes which are welcome news for Chinese travel consumers. This recent decree is also very good news for destinations and tourism operators globally that have been investing heavily in the Chinese travel market in recent years.

Among the 36 articles announced, some of the key changes relate to ensuring complete transparency to consumers prior to purchasing and also to remaining legitimate whilst on tour. New regulations have given special attention to addressing the Chinese travel industry’s long standing reputation of being heavily commissioned shopping tours in order to market and sell below cost tours. The new rules stipulate that no tour can be sold below cost and there is to be no coercing travelers to go shopping or participate in tour items that need extra payment.

Glen Hingley, Managing Director of Shanghai based tourism representation firm, Asia Tourism Relations said, “This means the inbound travel industry receiving Chinese travelers in destinations such as Hong Kong, Thailand, Australia and other approved destinations should now be gradually forced to change their practices. The current practices of shopping related entities acting as inbound operators and offering below cost tours with itineraries full of forced shopping should now abate. Of course these new regulations need to be enforced and it is hoped that as more and more travelers understand their new consumer rights, this will occur. However for many consumers it also means that the cost of travel will now increase, forcing many at the very bottom of the markets threshold to not be able to afford travel.”

“For many in the travel industry of China this will indeed be a bitter pill to swallow initially but it has to in time mean that the Chinese traveler of tomorrow will be able to have a much more meaningful travel experience that is the tour they purchased, regardless of the destination” Mr Hingley added.

These changes are now being rolled out across China and it is expected that the travel industry will be policed in an effort to ensure the rights of travelling Chinese are protected.

According to the statistics from National Bureau of Statistics of China, by the end of year 2008 there were over 45.8 million of Chinese tourists to travel abroad, a remarkable 11.9% increase since year 2007. World Tourism Organization predicts it is set to reach a staggering 100 million per year by 2020. Tatiana Rokou - Friday, May 08, 2009 Tatiana Rokou - Friday, May 08, 2009

TDN INTERNATIONAL EDITION - http://www.traveldailynews.com

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Regular flights between Tokyo's Haneda, Beijing to start in October

Japan and China agreed to launch regular flights between Tokyo’s Haneda airport and Beijing Capital International Airport from October 2009, Japanese officials said. The accord came at talks between Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso and Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao in Beijing.

Haneda airport, mainly used for domestic flights, is closer to central Tokyo than Narita International Airport in Chiba Prefecture, east of Tokyo, where regular flights are available to and from Beijing Capital International Airport.

The new flights will mark the second regular service linking Haneda airport and mainland China, following flights started in 2007 between Haneda airport and Shanghai’s Hongqiao airport.

The Shanghai airport, closer to central Shanghai than Shanghai Pudong International Airport, had been used for domestic flights only.

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Cathay Pacific wins ‘Airline of the Year 2009’ Award

Congratulations on this well deserved recognition:

Cathay Pacific Airways welcomes the announcement that it has been named Airline of the Year 2009 in the World Airline Awards run by the London-based Skytrax research organisation – the third time it has taken the honour in the past 10 years. The airline was also named Best Airline Asia in 2009.

The awards were presented to Cathay Pacific atthe Aircraft Interiors Expo in Hamburg, Germany, where Skytrax was celebrating the 10th anniversary of the World Airline Awards. The 2009 awards were based on the annual World Airline Survey run by Skytrax, which was conducted between August 2008 and March 2009.

Skytrax Chief Executive Officer Edward Plaisted said: “In a global study that proved to be our largest-ever passenger survey, it is truly a great achievement for Cathay Pacific to have secured the world's best airline title in 2009. With over 16.2 million completed interviews, drawn from more than 97 nationalities around the world, we pay credit to the fact that Cathay Pacific is clearly delivering a quality of product and service that its customers really appreciate.”

Cathay Pacific has been a consistent winner in the World Airline Awards, taking the Airline of the Year honour in 2003 and 2005 and winning plaudits for its Hong Kong lounges and inflight products. In the 2008 awards the airline took the Best First Class title following the introduction of its groundbreaking new cabins.

Commenting on the latest honour, Cathay Pacific Chief Executive Tony Tyler said: “We are delighted to once again be named Airline of the Year in the Skytrax awards. This award is very meaningful because it was voted for by the travelling public and it’s a real tribute to the dedication and professionalism shown by our whole team. At Cathay Pacific we have worked hard to develop a world-class international network from our Hong Kong home, offering passengers top-notch products and the best service in the air, and it’s very pleasing to receive this kind of global recognition.”

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