Marianas represented at largest Japan trade, travel fair

The Marianas—Saipan, Tinian, and Rota—was recently showcased at the largest trade and travel fair in Japan. The Japan Association of Travel Agents (JATA) and World Trade Fair (WTF) was held in Tokyo, Japan on September 22-24, 2005.

The Marianas Visitors Authority, together with 14 of its members in the private sector of the tourism industry has been planning for the past 10 months with JATA/WTF organizers. Located in the Tokyo International Exhibition Center, the JATA/World Travel Fair provides a unique opportunity for travel trade and exhibition of destinations to travel agents, media representatives, and consumers in Japan. Featuring over 700 booths, the show attracts over 104,000 visitors and features 30,000 travel trade and media representatives.

The Mariana Islands was distinguished as a premier destination, with a line up of interactive activities conducted at the Marianas booth. These activities include cultural performances by local artisans, demonstrations of arts and crafts, such as mwarmwar-making, bead creations, and banana art. Photo opportunities with Saipan-da, destination quizzes, and a promotional stamp rally were also conducted. The stamp-rally was record breaking this year with over 5,500 participants compared to last year’s total of 3,156. This shows that many of the visiting travel agents, media, and consumers were very interested in the Marianas booth.

A Marianas Workshop was also coordinated for travel agents and media representatives during the JATA/WTF Travel Fair with an attendance of 94 participants. During the seminar, travel agents and media representatives received detailed presentations about the Marianas and services available to our potential visitors.

“JATA/WTF is the largest, most widely recognized and attended event in Japan,” said Vicky Benavente, MVA managing director. “It is critical to maintain our destination’s presence in the mindset of our largest travel market. This year, the Marianas booth welcomed altogether more than 5,500 travel trade, media, and consumers during the three day period. We are very pleased with this turnout and the amount of interest stirred by the Micronesia region coming together with a common stage. We also had the opportunity to address Japan travel agents and media representatives to familiarize the very people that will sell our destination to consumers,” Benavente added. (PR)