On 6 Feb, a tourism seminar jointly organised by the Japan National Tourism Organisation (JNTO), Perth Airport, and All Nippon Airways (ANA) was held in Perth CBD to promote Japan as a travel destination. It was also a promotional event where ANA announced the launch of the new direct service between Tokyo/Narita and Perth from 1 Sep. Over 100 participants from organisations such as travel agencies or the media attended the event. There were six Japanese organisations that ran a booth at the event, including the Aomori Prefectural Government. After the presentations by JNTO and ANA, there was a networking session where seminar participants were able to visit the exhibiting booths to converse with different organisations for an hour.
Many of the questions asked on the day were snow or ski related, and a participant on the day noted that there are increasing demands for ski holidays in Japan. In addition to those interested in skiing, many participants were eager to discover new travel destinations in Japan in preparation for their upcoming trip, and staff at the Aomori Prefectural Government booth answered questions regarding the prefecture, major attractions, and transportation in the prefecture.
According to many participants, the launch of the new ANA direct service is hot topic for travel agencies and people in Perth, and they expect an increase in the people travelling to Japan from areas around Perth.
