Towards Sustainable Tourism: Building the Hokuriku Rainbow Route

SUNRISE TOURS Creating a New Influx of Visitors to Japan

 

JTB Global Marketing & Travel, with its Sunrise Tours*1 brand geared for international visitors, has been awarded the Japan Tourism Agency Commissioner‘s Award in the Travel to Japan category in the Tour Grand Prix 2024 (Organizer: Tour Grand Prix 2024 Executive Committee). The Tour Grand Prix aims to improve planning and marketing capabilities in the travel industry and contribute to measures to make Japan a "tourism-oriented nation." The awards are given to outstanding project proposals such as for domestic and overseas planned tours (agent-organized tours/tailor-made tours) and inbound tourism. JTBGMT, under the Sunrise Tours*1 brand of domestic package tours for international visitors, created the Hokuriku Rainbow Route to generate a new influx of visitors to the areas. At the winner announcement and award ceremony held on July 10, 2024, out of 153 entries, JTBGMT was presented with the Japan Tourism Agency Commissioner‘s Award in the Travel to Japan category, a new independent category established this year.

 

Details of Awarded Project
Creating a new influx of visitors to Japan by building the Rainbow Route towards realizing sustainable tourism.

 

1. Project Background
In recent years, the tourism industry has been facing a major issue of overtourism, where travelers concentrate in certain cities. To resolve this issue, there is an urgent need to disperse visitors to other regions. Because of this, Sunrise Tours began a full-scale project from 2022 aimed at generating a new influx of visitors to regional areas. Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, we have continued to move the project forward by revising our product strategy and creating an influx of people in regional areas based on the concept of contributing to the revitalization of the local economy and sustainable tourism. So far, we have developed 5 new inbound tourism routes from Hokkaido to Kyushu. The Rainbow Route, which won the award this time, was the first route we developed.

 

2. Rainbow Route Concept & Features
♦New Inbound Tourism Route Launched with the Extension of the Hokuriku Shinkansen in spring 2024
Created ahead of the extension of the Hokuriku Shinkansen from Kanazawa to Tsuruga scheduled for spring 2024, the Rainbow Route is a new route that aims to create an influx of international visitors to the Hokuriku area and develop the local tourism economy. Furthermore, by promoting a route from the Greater Tokyo Area to the Kansai region through the Hokuriku area (Kanazawa, Shirakawago, Takayama), it also aims to disperse visitor concentration on the Golden Route.

 

♦Sustainable Tourism Product in Collaboration with Local Government
The Kanazawa Tour included on this route was planned and conducted in collaboration with the government of Ishikawa Prefecture with extensive research into the initiatives for sustainability of Kanazawa, which has been promoted as a "Sustainable City" both domestically and internationally.

 

♦Wide-area Promotion
We hope that this route name will be widely used by local governments and tourism industry in order to strengthen the region's brand and attract more visitors to local areas. As we plan to popularize this route both domestically and internationally over the medium to long term, we have registered the route name in Japanese as a trademark in Japan so that we can continue to use it. We will create a dynamic movement together with wide-area collaboration among local governments in areas along the Hokuriku Shinkansen line.

 

3. Future Outlook
We will refine the 5 new inbound tourism routes constantly in order to maximize the appeal of each region. In addition, we will strengthen our planning of local round-trip tours visiting surrounding regions from each area on the route, and expand our product lineup to give individual travelers more flexibility in following the route by providing connection to local tours.

 

4. Judges' Comments
At a time when attracting international visitors to regional areas is a pressing need, this earnest plan aims to utilize areas that are gaining attention thanks to the extension of the Hokuriku Shinkansen, dispersing travelers and allowing travelers to break away from the Golden Route. The plan was highly praised for preparing programs that allow tour participants to fully experience local attractions such as nature and culture that are unique to the area. Additionally, the fact that it is expected to make a significant contribution to revitalizing the local economy and promote high added value for travel also led to the high evaluation. The concept of starting with a "main route" that goes around Tokyo, Kanazawa, and Kyoto, and then developing "sub routes" that go around the local areas, will likely lead to application and commercialization in various regions in the future.

 

◆Promotional Video (2023 Tour Itinerary)
https://youtu.be/NloeIx33Bo0?si=n9mCgW6bM96Duck5

 

◆Tour Information for Travel Agents, please click here!

 

In addition to improving service safety and security, Sunrise Tours will continue to pursue new, sustainable forms of tourism in cooperation with local communities, and contribute to the development of regional tourism economy.

*1 “SUNRISE TOURS” is a registered trademark of JTB in Japan.