Gold Coast glamour served to commuters at Tokyo café

Thousands of Japanese people took detours from their daily commute to experience a glimpse of the Gold Coast at a Travel Café in Tokyo in September.

Tourism Minister Desley Boyle said the café, which was jointly sponsored by Tourism Queensland, Tourism Australia and Gold Coast Tourism, was exclusively themed for the destination with new imagery and promotional material.

”More than 13,000 people visited the café at Shinjuku Station, which is one of Tokyo’s busiest train stations,” Ms Boyle said.

“On average there were 442 people visiting the café each day who stopped to enjoy popular local fare such as Australian beef, XXXX beer and Sirromet wine.

“Sales staff also took group organisers to the café so they could get a real taste for the Gold Coast.

“The café proved to be popular, particularly with commuters who were able to do more than just daydream about the Gold Coast, they were able to get a real taste for it as well.”

Ms Boyle said the café also promoted the new Jetstar flights which began flying daily between Osaka and the Gold Coast earlier this month.

In a bid to further entice Japanese commuters to think about taking a Gold Coast holiday, a weekly competition for two people to visit the destination was also held.

“By giving customers just a taste of what the Gold Coast has to offer, we hope more Japanese visitors will be encouraged to come and experience the real thing,” Ms Boyle said.

The café was open at the station throughout September, timed to coincide with a joint Tourism Queensland/Gold Coast Tourism trade mission when 15 tourism operators representing 23 products visited Japan on a five-day, five-city tour of key Japanese travel industry partners.

Ms Boyle said while a range of factors such as the current world economic climate and rising fuel costs had affected the number of Japanese visiting Queensland, the state’s tourism industry remained committed to the market.

She said Japan remained Queensland’s second largest international market and was critical to the Gold Coast with 123,000 Japanese spending 1.168 million nights in the region in the year to June 30.

“The Japanese market is vital to the Queensland tourism industry,” she said.

“We are committed to working with the Japanese travel industry and airlines to ensure Queensland remains as one of the main destinations of choice for Japanese travellers.”

6 November 2008

Media contact: 3224 2007 or 3225 1005