Japan Tourism associate with JCB to woo Southeast Asian tourists

Osaka, Japan

As part of the efforts to increase the inflow of tourists from Southeast Asia, Tourism Bureau in Osaka has partnered with private company JCB, one of the original credit card companies in Japan.

Despite the fact that the number of foreign tourists coming to Osaka, the merchant town; the Tourism Bureau have been in the process of a number of initiatives to attract more tourists, especially from Thailand.

“We would like to offer the campaign called ‘Otoku Osaka’ till the end of March next year, and to convey the appeal of Osaka to Thai members.

JCB has many members in the Asian country and it has already provided them with special preferential service in approximately 1000 stores in Japan.

The newly added service ‘Otoku Osaka’- means the city of Osaka provides a lot of benefits- campaign is related to JCB card issued in Thailand.

The campaign’s logo has a unique design of Osaka’s famous features such as Osaka Castle and Takoyaki etc., displayed in the restaurants, fashion stores and miscellaneous good outlet stores which provide premium treatment to tourists.

“I came here to visit Osaka and to take pictures of the shopping area and signboard of ‘Glico’,” said a tourist.

As per a statement from the Tourism Bureau in Osaka, Japan had suffered from disasters such as earthquake and typhoon and there is fear of their negative impact on tourism.

“People of Thailand and Malaysia are exempted from visa and their income is increasing, thus we want to increase the number of visitors from these countries in the future,” said  Hiroshi Mizohata, of the Tourism Bureau.

Osaka Castle

“It is a campaign for JCB membership issued in Thailand. There are about 60 stores in the southern area of Osaka, where you can use JCB card to receive gift cards, discount and cash-back service,” said Tmokazu Mikami of JCB

The number of tourists from Southeast Asia is increasing because it is becoming easier to obtain an entry visa to Japan. As local government and business companies prepare various services to attract those travellers, there is no doubt that they will have a more enjoyable time in Japan.