OC Working Overtime to Convince Asian Travelers It’s Time for a Visit
By SANDI CAIN
When the U.S. and Japan last month signed an agreement to boost tourist numbers by 20% during the next five years, they were acknowledging something that Southland tourism officials already knew: the Japanese are an integral part of the country’s tourism market.
About 1 million Japanese tourists came to Southern California in 2000 and spent about $1 billion. But last year, only 692,000 visited.
Asian visitors make up about 10% of all international travelers to Southern California and about 10% of Orange County’s tourists are from other countries.
The Japanese typically rely on travel agents to plan their trips and they choose destinations that are perceived to be safe, according to Yoshie Brady, assistant general manager for a Japanese tour operator in Los Angeles.
After Sept. 11, Japanese schools banned visits to the U.S. and businesses issued directives to workers that discouraged travel on U.S. airlines or stays at U.S.-owned hotels.
Asian honeymooners planning the popular trek to Los Angeles and Las Vegas,many of whom get married at Knott’s Berry Farm in Buena Park,were deterred by uneasy parents.
So, rather than planning trips to the U.S., Asian tourists instead have been heading to Australia, Canada, Europe and even Southeast Asia.
Many are traveling within Japan, too, hitting hot springs and other local tourist spots.
“Sept. 11 was devastating (for Japanese tourism)” Brady said. “Trust was completely lost.”
Tourism officials have been working hard to rebuild that trust. They’ve sent executives and visitor bureau officials overseas to convince Asian travelers that it’s safe to come back. The U.S.-Japan initiative takes those efforts to a national level.
But for OC, the outreach is nothing new.
South Coast Plaza was the first shopping mall in the area to promote itself to the Japanese market 20 years ago. The Anaheim/Orange County Visitor & Convention Bureau meets regularly with Japanese travel agents and tour operators,sometimes toting along a member of Anaheim’s Tourist Oriented Police to help make their case for visiting the area.
And earlier this year, representatives of Fashion Island and the Newport Beach Conference & Visitors Bureau went to Japan to meet with tour promoters there.
But while government officials say that getting people back on planes is the cure-all for the slumping tourist economy, tour operators believe only positive, word-of-mouth experiences can reassure nervous travelers.
The Olympic Games,with their show of security and incident-free schedule,helped, Brady said.
As does a renewed enthusiasm for American baseball now that more Japanese players have joined Major League teams, including the Los Angeles Dodgers.
A group of students from Osaka University traveled to California in early March to work the Los Angeles Marathon and visit an Anaheim fire station.
Another group,winners of a contest co-sponsored by Japanese and California government and tourism entities,visited Orange County in April.
But though that group was wined, dined and pampered at places like Balboa Bay Club, Newport Harbor, Fashion Island, South Coast Plaza, California Adventure and Knott’s Berry Farm, they were most impressed by intangibles, according to one tour leader. The Japanese, she said, were impressed that fathers take their kids to Disneyland during the week, by the absence of high-rises in Orange County, and nice people.
One member of the group said: “Travelers want not only nice weather, hotels, meals and experiences, but also nice people. Japanese can’t understand English, so they are always a bit nervous in a foreign country. So it is more important that people are kind, helpful and cheerful.”
