InsideJapan takes training on the road after ‘tough’ few months
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Tour operator InsideJapan has revealed it is to hold travel agent events this year to educate the trade on its latest products and spread the message that Japan is ‘open for business’. The tour operator is holding the West Country Travel Meet next month and plans to hold two agent training events a month from July. “We hope to speak with the local travel trade and let people know that Japan and InsideJapan Tours are still very much open for business after the March 11th crisis,” said James Mundy from InsideJapan. “We hope to hold several agent/client events with some of our favourite agents over the next few months to inform them and their customers about the amazing experiences to be had in Japan.” The roadshow announcement follows a tough four months for the tour operator following the earthquake and tsunami, although it is positive about forward bookings. “In June we are now at approximately 60% of the business we did in June 2010 which is reassuring and we expect to hitting 100% by the end of October 2011,” Mundy told Travel Daily. He was also encouraged by the AITO conference in Vilnius, where the tour operator spoke to agents about its experiences “Aito Chairman, Oliver Broad had requested that InsideJapan Tours do a presentation at the conference which went down very well and also got a few of our key messages across – Japan is safe, now is the time to travel and better than ever and that Japan wants people to visit,” he added. In addition, the tour operator hopes that displaying customer reviews live on its website will build further confidence in the destination and its products. “We have been looking to do this for a number of years now as we have gathered an incredible amount of useful feedback from our clients over the years and it seemed wasteful not to make it a public resource”, said Alastair Donnelly, co-director of InsideJapan. “As well as having SEO benefits, the reviews page is an excellent tool for us as it allows InsideJapan to gauge what our customers think of their entire holiday experience from planning through to boarding the plane back home.”
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