~ Article and Photo by Gosford City Council~
Gosford City Council celebrated the 25th anniversary of its sister city relationships with Edogawa, Japan and Nitra, Slovakia, earlier in 2013.
According to Deputy Mayor, Chairman of council’s Employment and Economic Development committee and a member of the Sister City committee, Clr Bob Ward, sister city relationships offer a strong foundation for economic development including tourism, rather than simply a focus on cultural and educational activities. .
“I recently visited Edogawa as a member of council’s sister city delegation and after fulfilling my sister city responsibilities, with the aid of Edogawa City staff members, I successfully represented a number of potential exporters and tourist destinations from the Gosford local government area.
During this period, I met executives from Tokyo Chamber of Commerce, Asahi Travel International, the Commissioner- JapanTrade and Investment NSW, the Austrade Commissioner and the Regional Manager for Japan and Korea from Tourism Australia.
Meeting Mayor Tada in Edogawa
Whilst my objective was to introduce businesses, which I was representing, to the Japanese market and determine the opportunities available to them, through a process of presenting their materials to a group of business influencers. I was able to achieve some direct results.
I’m still working on a project to develop a relationship between the Edogawa and Gosford Chambers of Commerce,” Clr Ward said.
Clr Ward went to say that he believed that the current Japanese economic environment is ripe for appropriate Australian export businesses and tourist destinations.
“According to Austrade, Japan is one of Australia’s most important and strategic international business partners with an ever-evolving partnership that extends over 50 years With a population of 128 million, Japan is the third largest global economy. The Japanese market is characterised by consumers with high levels of disposable income and companies with a strong global orientation and willingness to invest in sustainable, long-term products and services.Tourism Australia indicated that there were 353,900 visitors from Japan for calendar year 2012, an increase of 6.4 per cent compared to 2011.Visitors from Japan generated $1.6 billion in total expenditure in 2012. The Tourism 2020 Strategy estimates that the Japan market has the potential to grow to between $2.7 billion and $3.3 billion in total expenditure by 2020. They state that Japan is in a category, including 4 other countries, which are expected to potentially total over $1 billion by 2020 in visitor spending,” Clr Ward concluded.
