Japanese website to promote Western Australia

27/4/02
A special website designed to target the lucrative Japanese market has been announced by Tourism Minister Clive Brown.

The aim of the new Western Australian Tourism Commission website is to increase consumer awareness in the Japanese market.

Mr Brown said Japan was WA's third largest international market, with 52,900 Japanese visiting the State in 1999-2000, contributing more than $102million to the economy.

The website was designed in Japan and written in Japanese to ensure that its focus was culturally specific and complemented the Japanese travel industry.

"The rapid uptake of the Internet by Japanese consumers in the past few years makes this specifically tailored website an important promotional tool," the Minister said.

It was the first time a website had been developed by the WA Tourism Commission in a language other than English.

The Japanese website is linked to the WA Tourism Commission's English website.

"Visitors to the site can send enquiries direct to Perth-based Japanese inbound tour operators and product suppliers listed, or they can expand their search to include the comprehensive product information and listings that are available on the English site," Mr Brown said.

The Japanese website is registered with major Japanese search engines such as Yahoo and Biglobe and has links to major Japanese travel sites.
A print and Internet advertising campaign is planned to promote the site. The website address will be used on all Tourism Commission promotions in Japan.

Only suppliers with Japanese operating systems are included on the http://www.westernaustralia.or.jp website.
WA Tour operators on http://www.westernaustralia.net gain exposure when Japanese consumers use the link to the English site.

Minister's office: 9222 9699