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By Tadatoshi Mamiya, President of the Japan National Tourism Organization
Collaboration. Japan National Tourism Organization (JNTO) would like to express our sympathy and condolences to all the people who have been affected by the earthquake and tsunami that struck Japan on March 11, 2011. We would also like to express our sincere respect and gratitude to those who have been involved with the relief and recovery efforts.
We are very fortunate to have received many warm messages, encouragement, and support from all over the world; especially we know many citizens, regardless of their origin and nationality, have made generous contributions to
relief organizations such as the Red Cross.
The devastating disaster has had an enormous impact on Japan’s inbound tourism. While many areas in Japan remained unaffected by the disaster, they are also suffering from the sudden decrease in international visitors. We are deeply concerned that this will not only affect Japan’s tourism industry directly, but also will have a very negative impact on our industry partners around the world.
JNTO is committed to provide timely information on the current situation to the travel industry and to the public through our website; however, considering there still exists some possibility of aftershocks and the highest priority has to be given to rescue and relief efforts, the Japanese Government has decided to pause its tourism promotion activities temporarily.
With regards to the meetings and events industry, many areas used by international groups for meetings, congresses and incentives are removed from the affected areas and are operating as normal. In order to allow us to convey this message, we are happy to be participating at IMEX 2011 in Frankfurt. At the show this year, we would very much like the opportunity to give event planners an accurate idea of how resilient the Japanese MICE industry is, and how upcoming events can easily go ahead as scheduled and with minimal to no impact.
Once the situation in Japan stabilises, we will strive to resume all promotional activities as soon as possible. We look forward to warmly welcoming our visitors in the very near future, and thank you again for your continuous support.