MICE Geography: Japan — a country where hospitality becomes philosophy
Japan, a country of generous hospitality, courtesy and old corporate traditions, was the topic of ABT-ACTE Russia Educational seminar «MICE Geography», which was held in Moscow Hilton Leningradskaya Hotel on September 11.
Deputy Executive Director of ABT-ACTE Russia Ekaterina Aleksandrova was the first to greet the participants. She introduced sponsors that made this event possible — Japan Airlines (JAL), the national Japanese air carrier, ART Tour DMC and Business Travel Solution.
Cleanness, amiability and brightness of the Land of the Rising Sun attract travellers from all over the world. In 2013 Tokyo, one of world largest megalopolises won the TripAdvisor award as «The world’s traveller friendliest city» for its cleanness, locals` friendliness, the quality of transport and other services.
According to Junichi Shiraishi from Japan Airlines (JAL), the secret of such Japan’s popularity with foreigners is simple: «omotenashi» (おもてなし), which means «hospitality» in Japanese, implies a whole complex of traditions and rituals inherent to the national character of its inhabitants. It is a kind of the art of packaging translated into service. For instance, one of its examples is Japanese cuisine and the use of oshibori (wet towels that are offered before the meal). «Omotenashi» (おもてなし) is always based on «kidzuki» (気づき) principle, i.e. care and anticipation of the possible wishes of customers, including people with reduced capabilities. By the way, great effort is paid in Japan to create comfortable barrier-free environment. In particular, JAL offers special seats for the disabled. Due to «kidzuki» the passenger is free to choose a meal — either Japanese or European cuisine.
«In our country customers are treated reverently and we often say «Value every meeting, as it will never repeat again», the expert added and wished the participants gave ear to their partners and did everything in order to make everyone feel really happy.
Julia Borisova, ART Tour manager of Southeast Asia dwelled on some Japanese MICE routes that might be interesting to business travellers in particular.
— «Culinary adventures» (Tokyo — Kamakura — Yokohama). Travellers can get acquainted with the diversity of Japanese cuisine, because it includes not only fish dishes, but also meat and vegetarian ones.
— «The Golden Triangle» (Tokyo — Kyoto — Hakone) for those who are willing to learn more about Japanese history and see the natural hot springs in Hakone.
— «Samurai route» (Tokyo — Kamakura — Kyoto) is a program for those who are fond of sports, sumo first of all.
— «Three dragons» (Tokyo — Osaka — Okinawa) and «Back to the beginnings» (Tokyo — Shirakawa — Matsumoto — Nagano). These routes are very popular during the high travel season and let you get acquainted with Japanese beaches (that were a total surprise for many seminar participants), the blossoming sakuras and maples.
The first part of the seminar ended with a master class in origami and Japanese packaging that was conducted by the supervisor of JAL booking and sales department Akiko Kato.
After the break Ms Kato`s fellow colleague, Margarita Kalabashkina spoke about the advantages of the Japanese air carrier. At the moment there are four flights per week from Moscow to Tokyo, but due to JAL partnership programs a business traveller can easily get to Japan any day of the week. Flights are made by a comfortable Boeing-787 Dreamliner with state of the art technical equipment and a wide range of services. An average ticket price is 650 €.
There are two large airports in Tokyo — Haneda (or Tokyo International Airport) and Narita, which is 90 km away from the centre of Japan’s capital. The hubs are connected with public transport and railway.
If a traveller has to get to some city outside the Big Tokyo, he can use JAL that carries out flights throughout Japan and has an agreement with Japan Rail Pass railway network. In practice, if a traveller buys a ticket in Moscow, he has the right to get to any Japanese city by any transport available.
JAL loyalty program offers free Wi-Fi on the whole territory of Japan and includes flights of all the airlines that are part of Oneworld alliance, as well as Emirates and Air France. After you cumulate 10 thousand miles you get a coupon that equals 12 thousand yens (120 $).
Daria Zueva, marketing director of Business Travel Solution spoke about special aspects of Japanese hotels. The expert lived in Japan for ten years. In her words, services in international hotel chains are much more expensive than in individual hotels. Moreover, local hotels are characterized by a specific atmosphere, and their main features are space saving and moderateness.
According to Ms Zueva, the most famous MICE venues include Tokyo Big Sight — Tokyo international exhibition centre which was opened in 1996, and Tokyo City View tower. Not long ago in Kyoto a XVII century temple was opened where you can hold corporate events for up to 50 participants. You can try vegan Japanese cuisine (sushi, sashimi etc.) also there, in Kyoto.
He speaker paid special attention to Hills Tokyo and Shibuya hotel which was frequently chosen by dress designers to hold their shows.
During the discussion experts also advised meeting organizers to take into account national holidays, when they plan their business trips, because many people in Japan prefer going on an excursion to the capital and other cities on those days. Inna Rukhadze (Accenture) spoke about the new trend in the hospitality industry, when families invite foreigners to their traditional Japanese lunch or dinner.
In the final part of the Educational seminar a lottery was held, the prizes were provided by ABT-ACTE Russia partners. Weekends.Travel gave the lottery winner a travel certificate worth 300 €.
«I have taken part in events arranged by ABT-ACTE Russia for several times and I can’t stop admiring — there is something new every time», Senior manager CRDF Global Tamara Budnik shared her impressions of the meeting. «I would like to thank speakers for their interesting and exiting presentations».
ABT-ACTE Russia press service