Japan News Online

FEATURE: Zen temple offers hands-on experience to foreign visitors

A Buddhist temple in Kyoto is offering a one-of-a-kind experience to foreign visitors this summer in an effort to promote tourism and encourage repeat visits to the ancient Japanese capital. The number of foreign tourists staying at hotels and other accommodation in Kyoto has remained flat at around 400,000 a year for the past decade, according to the Kyoto municipal government.

Australia seeks to attract more Japanese student tourists

Australia is targeting Japanese students keen to learn English skills by offering language vacations and ''study and surf'' tours as added incentives to travel Down Under. The new tourism marketing strategy comes amid a protracted slump in the number of Japanese tourists choosing to visit Australia.

FEATURE: Laotians take to modernization while retaining socialist norms

As recently as a decade ago, most visitors to Laos found themselves among a bare handful of tourists plying the dusty backstreets of the capital, wandering nearly alone through world heritage site Luang Prabang or lazing along the Mekong in a local water taxi or churning up or down the mighty river in a long-tail boat. There was always a smattering of Lao-French bakeries and Western-esque restaurants and hostelries, but for the most part, Laos was a somewhat mysterious, rather laid-back destination well off the beaten tourist track languishing in a domestic brand of socialism that had little impact on foreign visitors -- except for fairly tough visa rules -- but that certainly filled the life of the citizenry.

Panel proposes relaxing restrictions on foreign airlines at Chitose

A government panel on tourism promotion proposed Monday the relaxing of current restrictions imposed on the entry of Chinese and other foreign airlines to the New Chitose Airport in Hokkaido ahead of the Group of Eight summit to be held there in July. In a set of proposals aimed at attracting more foreign tourists to Japan, the panel calls for the necessity to expedite immigration procedures at airports and to increase the number of automated teller machines that would enable holders of credit cards issued overseas to withdraw money, government officials said.

No. of S. Korean tourists to Japan increasing

The number of South Korean tourists to Japan will exceed that of Japanese to South Korea this year for the first time in about 40 years, reflecting the popularity of Japanese hot springs and the strength of the South Korean won against the yen, the Japan National Tourist Organization estimated Saturday. Some 1.96 million South Koreans are believed to have visited Japan between January and September, up 24.9 percent from a year earlier, and the number is expected to reach a record 2.6 million eventually, according to the estimation.

Mobile phones boosting tourism in Asia-Pacific

Travel companies in the Asia-Pacific region are leading the way in using cellphones to communicate with customers, according to a report issued at this year's World Travel Market in London. The region will see more airlines and travel agents advertising and conducting business via cellphones, Euromonitor International predicts.

British families urged to take their holidays in Japan

Japan is promoting itself as the ideal destination for a family holiday at this year's World Travel Market in London. After last year's promotion which focused on young adults, Japan is using the growth of Japanese popular culture in Britain and Europe to attract children and their parents.

Foreign journalists covering G-8 summit to get Hokkaido travel pass

The Hokkaido prefectural government is considering offering free transport within Japan's northern main island to foreign journalists covering the Group of Eight summit to be held next year in a local hot-spring resort area, Gov. Harumi Takahashi said Monday. The idea was revealed during a meeting of a government panel to promote tourism, which was held Monday afternoon in the planned summit venue of Windsor Hotel Toya Resort & Spa in the town of Toyako to discuss taking advantage of the summit to boost tourism.

Cambodia hosts int'l tourism fair near Angkor Wat

Cambodia launched an international tourism exhibition Monday to draw and to attract more international visitors to the country. The core objective is to give buyers and sellers the opportunity to grow their businesses, strengthen and broaden tourism cooperation between the participants and provide a deeper insight into Cambodia's tourism development and investment opportunities.

Fuyushiba unveils plans to create 'Tourism Agency'

Land, Infrastructure and Transport Minister Tetsuzo Fuyushiba unveiled plans on Wednesday to add a new agency called the ''Tourism Agency'' to the government's organization by bringing together his ministry's sections in charge of promoting tourism. The Japanese government would like to encourage the existing sections to handle tourism-promotion measures ''with greater solidarity'' on the strength of the agency's creation, Fuyushiba, now on visit to Shanghai, told reporters.