Kyoto city will ramp up its promotion of educational tours to the Australian market as the city attempts to offset the impact of the Great East Japan Earthquake on tourism.
This summer, a delegation of seven people will travel to our shores to promote educational tours to the region, a spokesperson told Travel Today.
“There are currently 300,000 people learning Japanese in Australia,” she said. It is the first year the promotion will take place in Australia. It has already been rolled out to Taiwan, Hong Kong, Korea and Singapore.
International tourist numbers to Kyoto city in the Kansai region are expected to have dipped by around 20% in the year since the quake, she estimated. Although visitor numbers for 2011 have yet to be revealed, the estimated downturn would mean 200,000 fewer visitors than 2010’s total of one million.
Australians made up 7% of the 2010 figure, totalling 77,600 visitors.
Meanwhile, Asian visitors have returned to the region in good numbers, she said.
“We sent a government mission to neighbouring Asian countries last year to explain that Kyoto was far from the affected Tohoku region.
Kyoto targets Aussie linguists
