Japan Travel and Tourism Association, the Japan Association of Travel Agents (JATA), and the Japan National Tourism Organization (JNTO) held the Tourism EXPO Japan 2024 from the 26th to the 29th of September 2024, at Tokyo Big Sight. The event, one of the largest tourism fairs in Asia, gathered industry professionals, government representatives, and tourism advocates from around the world. A total of 1,384 companies and organizations from 80 countries and regions around the world participated, with a total of 182,934 visitors over the four days.
During the EXPO, GSTC and JATA hosted a professional seminar. Kuniko Takasaki, GSTC Board Member and JTB Corp. Managing Executive Officer, Chief DEIB Officer, gave an overview of GSTC current mission and activities. Hajime Ono, JTA Senior Specialist for the Tourism Industry talked about JTA’s Training Achievements and Future Initiatives for Promoting Sustainable Tourism in Destinations and Accommodations, and Fuyuki Oki, Rakuten Travel, Manager, Sustainability Project Group introduced initiatives such as the Sustainable Icon, the Sustainable Travel Badge, and employee training on sustainable travel within the company. Junichiro Kobayashi, JTB Corp. Sustainability Team shared their vision for Sustainable Tourism Initiatives and support for employee training on GSTC.
Naomi Oiwa, GSTC Japan Market Development Manager was the facilitator in the panel discussion “Promoting Sustainable Tourism in Japan” where professionals from Japan Tourism Agency, JTB, Rakuten, Nippon Travel Agency, and Veltra – all GSTC Members– addressed the challenges and opportunities in implementing sustainable tourism practices. Takehiro Katsura, Nippon Travel Agency talked about their efforts in sustainable tourism by introducing tour programs like Carbon Zero Travel, Green Journey, Mitsuko Takebe, Veltra discussed the planning and implementation of their conservation activity tours. The panelists also shared insights on how to balance the growth of the tourism sector with environmental preservation and community engagement, emphasizing the importance of collaboration between the public and private sectors to achieve long-term sustainability goals.
GSTC representatives highlighted the importance of sustainable tourism practices and the implementation of the GSTC Criteria, the global standards for sustainable travel and tourism. Next year’s Tourism EXPO Japan 2025 will be held in Aichi. More information can be found here.
