When Bridget Lindquist, sales director of Newport Beach Conference & Visitors Bureau, came back from her five-day sales trip to Japan on Sept. 9, things looked good.
Lindquist, along with Brigitte Cady, tourism director of Fashion Island, and independent consultant Masako Easton, called upon 22 travel agencies and media outlets in Tokyo, Osaka and Nagoya. Their goal: lure more Japanese tourists to Newport Beach.
The three went to Japan armed with 1,000 promotional compact discs, 9,000 Japanese language brochures and bilingual business cards.
Then, two days after the trio got back, planes slammed into the World Trade Center and Pentagon. The terrorist attacks had a jarring effect on would-be Japanese visitors. Seventy-percent of Japanese tourists planning to visit the Southland between October and March canceled their trips, said Ko Ueno, a director specializing in Japan for the California State Division of Tourism.
Now, Newport Beach’s Lindquist said she is doing the best to salvage her efforts.
“We are acknowledging the (Japanese travel) agencies are facing challenges,” she said. “We let them know we are ready to welcome Japanese tourists when they are ready to travel.”
There are some encouraging signs. According to JALPAK International America, a Japanese travel agency in Los Angeles, a group tour of 20 people from Amway Japan made a four-day trip to Newport Beach after the U.S. retaliatory strikes started.
“The same group is planning to stay in Balboa next year, because they fell in love with the region,” said Chika Suga, assistant manager of JALPAK.
An incentive tour of 3,000 Japanese tourists plans to come to Anaheim in February, Suga said.
“I believe Newport Beach will attract more Japanese tourists once they start traveling again,” consultant Easton said.
Before recent events, Japanese travel agencies said they were looking for new packages besides the usual tours of theme parks. Among the 800,000 Japanese visitors to the Southland each year, half are repeaters who previously have visited Disneyland and Universal Studios, according to the state’s Ueno.
South Coast Plaza also is a regular stop for many Japanese visitors. Cady said she is looking to lure some of those shoppers by touting Fashion Island’s outdoor shopping, events and tenants. n
