【英语中国】日本请注意：中国游客爱温泉

Knowing what customers want is a good business practice. As Japan prepares to welcome hundreds of thousands more tourists from East Asia - particularly from China - travel-related businesses here should note that what Asians want to get out of their tours of Japan tours is a lot different from what some Westerners want.

The Japanese government, as part of its growth strategy, is attempting to attract more foreign tourists. This month, it loosened visa requirements for Chinese visitors.

Tourists from China tend to seek Japan's hot springs, shopping and food, in that order, according to a survey conducted by the Japan National Tourism Organization. Americans, by contrast, come to Japan for food, the traditional landscapes of temples and shrines and shopping, the survey found. The publicly funded organization interviewed 15,355 foreign tourists in 2009, and will publish a full report on its research at the end of July.

The preferences expressed in the survey are what drive Asians to Tokyo and Osaka metropolitan areas for shopping, and Westerners to Itsukushima Shrine in Hiroshima and more recently Mt. Koya in Wakayama.

'There is a little contrast between Asians and Westerners,' said Tei Zenbon spokesman for the organization.

Mr. Tei said quite a few first-time Asian visitors come to Japan for hot springs, though not many Westerners do. While Asians purchase cosmetics, electronics and sweets, Westerners buy kimono, crafts and woodwork.

'Asians show their interests in Japan's pioneering technology and modern culture. Meanwhile, westerners want to see traditional Japan,' Mr. Tei said. 'These preferences are strongly reflected in what they purchase.'

He said cosmetics are a prime example of what Asians buy that Westerners don't. Japanese brands such as Shiseido, Fancl, and DHC have a good reputation around East Asia for the skin-whitening abilities of their products.

South Korea still sends the most tourists to Japan, with 1.59 million visiting in 2009. But the Japan Tourism Agency aims to more than triple the number of Chinese tourists to 3.9 million in 2013 from 1.01 million last year.

Toshiji Aikyo, head of the Japan Tourism Association's project promotion group, said many first-time visitors from the mainland just flow into the 'golden route,' which takes tourists from Osaka, Kyoto, Mt. Fuji to Tokyo, since the market for tours has just opened.

Chinese tourists may flow into other destinations in the coming years. The Japan Tourism Agency is considering loosening requirements for interpreters so local governments can set their own standards, said Kazuhiro Suzuki, head of interpreter and guide unit at JTA. The current law prohibits people working as interpreters for profit unless they have a national license.

The Japan Tourism Association has an office in Taiwan, and many travelers from there who become repeat visitors over the past couple of decades 'come to see Japan's esoteric appeal,' Mr. Aikyo said.

The recent JNTO survey showed the top three goals for Taiwanese were hot springs, food and natural landscapes.

Japan's leading travel agency JTB has mainly conducted 'golden route' tours so far, said JTB spokesman Susumu Motoyoshi. He said the western Japanese island of Kyushu and the northern island of Hokkaido will become more popular destinations from now on because of Kyushu's proximity and Hokkaido's nature.

Occasionally, Asian tourists beat a path to unpromoted sites. After the Chinese film, Fei Cheng Wu Rao (If You Are the One), and the Korean TV drama, Iris, become hits in their respective nations, Chinese and Korean tourists flooded into the northern Japanese regions of Hokkaido and Akita where the movie and drama were filmed.

Mr. Tei said that no local commission was behind those projects, and the locations were simply chosen by the producers.

知道顾客想要什么是一个好的商业习惯。由于来自东亚，特别是中国的赴日游客将增加数十万人，日本在准备迎接他们之时，当地的旅游业相关公司应当注意：亚洲游客赴日之旅想要的东西与西方游客大不相同。

Bloomberg News中国游客在日本东京秋叶原地区购物。作为经济增长策略的一部分，日本政府试图吸引更多的外国游客。这个月，日本放松了中国游客的签证要求。

日本国家旅游局(Japan National Tourism Organization)进行的调查显示，中国游客倾向于到日本泡温泉、购物和享受美食，而美国游客到日本则想要享受美食、游览庙宇等传统景观及购物。这家由公共财政拨款的机构在2009年采访了15,355名外国游客，并将于7月底发布此次研究的完整报告。

亚洲游客喜欢前往东京和大阪都市区购物，而西方游客喜欢去广岛的严岛神社(Itsukushima Shrine)和近期的热点──歌山县的高野山(Mt. Koya)。调查中发现的偏好则是这两种现象背后的推动力。

日本国家旅游局发言人Tei Zenbon说，亚洲游客和西方游客有些反差。

他说，相当一部分亚洲游客第一次到日本是为了泡温泉，但西方游客这样做的却不多。亚洲人购买化妆品、电子产品和糖果，而西方人却购买和服、手工艺品和木制品。

他说，亚洲人对日本领先的技术和现代文化感兴趣。相比之下，西方人想见到传统的日本。他们购买的商品强烈地反映出这些偏好。

他说，化妆品是一个非常显著的例子。亚洲人到日本买化妆品，而西方人不买。资生堂(Shiseido)、Fancl和DHC等日本品牌的美白功能在东亚地区享有良好的声誉。

韩国赴日游客依然最多：2009年共159万人。去年中国游客为101万人。但日本观光厅(Japan Tourism Agency)的目标是在2013年使中国游客的数量增加两倍以上，至390万人。

日本旅游协会项目推广小组的负责人Toshiji Aikyo说，由于中国赴日旅游市场刚刚开放，许多中国大陆游客会扎堆“黄金游线”，即从大阪、京都、富士山到东京。

未来几年，中国游客或许会前往其它目的地。日本观光厅翻译与导游部负责人Kazuhiro Suzuki说，日本观光厅正在考虑放松对翻译的要求，这样当地政府便可制订自己的标准。当前的法律禁止无国家许可证的人从事翻译工作谋利。

Toshiji Aikyo说，日本旅游协会在台湾设有办公室，许多来自台湾的游客在过去几十年间多次赴日以“见证日本神秘的吸引力”。

近期日本国家旅游局的调查显示台湾游客的三大目标是温泉、美食和自然风景。

日本最大的旅游公司──JTB的发言人Susumu Motoyoshi说，迄今为止，JTB主要提供“黄金游线”服务。由于西部的九州岛离得很近，而北方的北海道拥有自然美景，今后将成为更受欢迎的旅游目的地。

有时亚洲游客会蜂拥至未推广的景点。在中国电影《非诚勿扰》和韩国电视剧《Iris》在各自国家热播之后，中韩游客竞相前往这两部电影和电视剧的拍摄地──日本北部的北海道和秋田。

Tei Zenbon说，这些项目背后没有地方政府的委托，是制片人挑选的这些地点。