I write both editorial and branded travel content. I’m a member of the Travel Media Association of Canada and have won three national travel writing awards.
Bali is a land of contrasts: mountains and valleys, beach clubs and rice paddies, local noodle shops and upscale modern restaurants. Here, we look at three prime areas for those who want to discover Bali without bounds.
Read the rest in the digital issue of North Shore Living
Ise-Shima, in Japan's Mie Prefecture, is enjoying a boost in tourism after hosting the G7 summit in May, as visitors flock to the area to follow in world leaders' footsteps. Shima Kanko Hotel, where world leaders stayed for the summit, was at 85 per cent occupancy throughout November, normally the low season…
Just an hour away from Tokyo by bullet train lies a charming mountain town you've probably never heard of. But Karuizawa, a popular summer home location for Tokyo residents looking to escape the city heat, welcomes approximately eight million visitors per year, according to Mari Kashiwagi, secretary of the Karuizawa Tourist Association. For several summers in the 1970s, John Lennon and his family were among those visitors, regularly staying at the Mampei Hotel…
Early Tuesday morning local time, an earthquake struck off the coast of Fukushima in the northeast of Japan. The 7.4 magnitude earthquake also shook buildings in Tokyo, where PAX is on location for the Visit Japan Project 2016, but there was no danger in Japan’s capital.
Following that unexpected wake-up call, we explored the Asakusa area, the location of the Senso-ji Temple and Nakamise shopping street, and enjoyed a multi-course Japanese set lunch at the Asakusa View Hotel, so named because of its impressive outlook over Tokyo and the Tokyo Skytree. After an afternoon strolling through the East Gardens of the Imperial Palace, we headed to the Visit Japan Project networking reception at Akasaka Palace, marking the first time the State Guest House has been opened for a public event.
“This site until now was used only to welcome state guests,” said Akihiko Tamura, commissioner of the Japan Tourism Agency, noting that the agency plans to increase the use of Japan’s historic buildings to “create renewed interest in Japan’s cultural sites.”
That opening up of “unique venues” for tourism is among the efforts to “transform Japan into a tourism-oriented country,” said Ryoichi Matsuyama, president of the Japan National Tourism Organization. It’s one of the “strong government initiatives to make full use of local tourism resources to enhance the competitiveness of Japanese tourism.”
“As we look toward the future, we will generate innovation at all levels of the travel and tourism industry,” Matsuyama said.
That will involve “more cooperation between regions, industries, and the public and private sectors to expand tourism even further,” said Norio Yamaguchi, chairman of the Japan Travel and Tourism Association.
Japan welcomed 19.74 million tourists in 2015, said Keiichi Ishii, Minister of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism. As of October, the number of visitors for 2016 had reached 20.11 million, marking the first time more than 20 million visitors have come to the country in one year and an increase of 23.3 per cent over last year. With those increasing numbers, Japan is targeting 40 million visitors annually by 2020, Ishii said.
More than 80 international travel agents are in Japan as part of the Visit Japan Project. Stay tuned this week for more updates from Japan as PAX explores Karuizawa and Ise-Shima, both sites of G7 meetings in 2016.
This post originally appeared on PAXNewsWest.com in 2016.
Read the story in the S-Magazine Winter 2017 digital issue
There's more to Thailand than Bangkok, Chiang Mai and Phuket. That was the key message from the Tourism Authority of Thailand's Kayla Shubert last night at a Vancouver training session hosted by Goway Travel.
More than 60 per cent of the 227,000 Canadians that visited Thailand in 2015 were repeat visitors…
Out trolling for Chinook salmon in the Strait of Juan de Fuca, I watch my fishing guide, Ryan Chamberland, deftly slice the head off a herring, scoop out its guts and thread it onto a line so it moves like a live fish once dropped into the sea…
Read the rest in the Vancouver Courier or at vancourier.com
The 382-passenger Silversea Silver Shadow, currently sailing between Vancouver and Alaska until the end of September, welcomed PAX aboard in Vancouver last week for a tour of the ship with a select group of travel media before passengers set sail for Seward…
White Rock is an idyllic beachside city offering a great lifestyle just north of the US border and just south of Surrey on the Semiahmoo Peninsula
White Rock is a beachside city just north of the Canada–United States border and Blaine, Washington, and just south of Surrey on the Semiahmoo Peninsula. It’s named for the huge white boulder that sits on the beach, a “glacial erractic” dating back to the Ice Age…
Read the rest at REW.ca
My article about Elephant Hills in Thailand won an outstanding achievement award in the Environmental/Responsible Tourism category at the 2015 Travel Media Association of Canada (TMAC) Awards, held this past weekend in Cape Breton. You can read the article in the digital edition of the PAX Magazine November issue.
