VOL.197 OCTOBER 2024
JAPAN’S HEALING FORESTS (PART 2)
Autumn Forests with Colorful Leaves
[POLICY RELATED NEWS II] The U.S.-Japan Tourism Year 2024 — An Initiative Designed to Reinvigorate Tourism Exchanges between Japan and the United States
A Memorandum of Cooperation declaring the U.S.-Japan Tourism Year was signed by U.S. Ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel and Japanese Minister of Land, Infrastructure, Transport, and Tourism SAITO Tetsuo in November 2023.
The U.S.-Japan Tourism Year 2024 is an initiative that Japan and the United States have joined forces to promote over the past year with the aim of restoring tourism demand that has declined due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This article will give an overview of the initiative and events related to it.
Background of the U.S.-Japan Tourism Year 2024
In November 2023, Japanese Minister of Land, Infrastructure, Transport, and Tourism SAITO Tetsuo and U.S. Ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel signed a Memorandum of Cooperation designating the period from January 2024 to March 2025 as the U.S.-Japan Tourism Year 2024. The aim of the initiative is to restore and expand mutual tourism exchanges between the two countries, which have declined due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In the Tourism Year, the public and private tourism sectors in both countries will work in close cooperation based on the Memorandum to reinvigorate tourism exchanges. Participants include the U.S. Embassy in Japan, Brand USA, the Japan Tourism Agency (JTA), the Japan National Tourism Organization (JNTO), and the Japan Association of Travel Agents (JATA).
Initiatives and events being promoted during the U.S.-Japan Tourism Year 2024
A variety of initiatives are being promoted as part of the U.S.-Japan Tourism Year. These include events intended to stimulate tourism demand in both countries, events to promote tourism through baseball and other sports, and people-to-people exchanges in sister cities in both countries. More details will be outlined below.
Initiatives in the U.S. aimed at increasing demand for travel to Japan
In May 2024, one of the largest tourism trade shows in the U.S., IPW 2024, was held in Los Angeles. This event provided the venue for the U.S.-Japan Tourism Symposium, involving participants from the public and private tourism sectors in Japan and the U.S., which sought to promote increased travel between the two countries, as well as an event to promote tourism in the Hokuriku region of northwestern Japan at JAPAN HOUSE Los Angeles. Further efforts to encourage greater demand for travel to Japan have included a promotional campaign produced in partnership with Lucasfilm Ltd. LLC* with a sweepstakes giveaway offering prizes such as airfare to Japan and commemorative merchandise to raise awareness of the U.S.-Japan Tourism Year. The company also collaborated on organizing an exhibition booth providing information about travel to Japan and showing a Star Wars-themed festival car, called “float” for the Japan Parade that took place in New York the same month, May 2024, which fascinated spectators. As another feature of the Tourism Year, an event promoting U.S.-Japan tourism was held in New York in September. With attendees including former Prime Minister KISHIDA Fumio, who was visiting the U.S. at the time, the event focused on conveying the appealing charms of Japan’s tourism attractions, foods, and sake.
Photo: courtesy of Cabinet Public Affairs Office
An official U.S. tourism promotion organization, Brand USA, organized the Japan Sales Mission, which brought together tourist boards from throughout the U.S. for a program held in Tokyo and Osaka in July 2024 featuring seminars and business discussions targeted at Japanese travel agencies. Also, the U.S.-Japan Tourism Year Symposium was held in conjunction with the Tourism Expo Japan 2024 in Tokyo, Japan in September 2024. In it, leading tourism suppliers from the U.S. gave presentations and held panel discussions oriented toward the Japanese travel industry, explaining policies and plans focused on accelerating the recovery of demand for travel to the U.S.
Sports-focused events have been held as well, including the Children’s Kasumigaseki Tour Day held in Tokyo in August 2024, featuring exhibitions created in collaboration with MLB Japan and other partners, a quiz contest, and more. In September, a U.S.-Japan Tourism Year Celebration Night was also held in conjunction with an official Japanese professional baseball game. The Minister-Counselor for Commercial Affairs at the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo, Alan Turley, threw the ceremonial first pitch at the event, where the U.S.-Japan Tourism Year 2024 logo was displayed as part of the main vision and a special tourism promotional video was shown, as well.
Future efforts
Looking forward, Japan and the U.S. will continue working to advance initiatives aimed at revitalizing tourism exchanges between the two countries through a variety of events, including sports-focused occasions and cultural exchanges between sister cities. Both countries also hope to encourage increased social and economic cooperation, as well as mutual understanding. More details can be found at the Japan Tourism Agency’s official website for the U.S.-Japan Tourism Year 2024 and JNTO special website.
* Lucasfilm Ltd. LLC: An American film and television production company founded by U.S. filmmaker George Lucas.
