Frankfurt. Japan’s participation at IMEX 2011 was the country’s first major promotion in the European market following the devastating earthquake and tsunami that took place on March 11th. Said Chad Shiver of the Japan National Tourism Organization (JNTO): “Not only was a vast majority of the country untouched by the earthquake and tsunami, but meeting planners can make a real difference right now by bringing their events to cities that were hundreds of kilometres from any dangers, but are still suffering economically from a huge number of cancellations. Almost all areas of Japan are more than ready to welcome back international groups, and to do so with world-famous levels of service and hospitality.”
Many DMCs, city convention bureaus, and hotels travelled to IMEX at Frankfurt from Japan. JTB, one of Japan’s largest DMCs, said “Many more people visited the Japan booth than we were expecting, considering the recent disaster. We saw bright signs of recovery on the horizon for Japan through our interactions with planners, and we cannot be thankful enough to those who expressed their well-wishes and pledged their support for Japan’s meetings and events industry. This international support will certainly help speed up recovery efforts, and hopefully will quickly get Japan back on track as one of the world’s leading MICE destinations.”
