In the year ahead, Japan and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) will find themselves in the global spotlight as hosts of the Summer Olympics and Expo 2020 Dubai, respectively.
According to the Japan National Tourism Organization (JNTO), the country has taken steps over the past few years to improve the visitor experience ahead of the games' kickoff on July 24, including implementation of more efficient arrival procedures at airports and the introduction of free WiFi aboard its bullet trains.
In fact, according to Naohito Ise, executive director of the JNTO's New York office, the Games present a good opportunity for first-time visitors to board those trains and explore the area between host city Tokyo and Osaka -- as well as an opportunity for the JNTO to stoke interest in return visits.
A rendering of the Expo 2020 Dubai site, which will provide a tourism growth opportunity for the United Arab Emirates.
And with audiences across the globe set to tune in for the Olympics, the JNTO will seek to highlight areas beyond Tokyo and Kyoto and promote year-round visitation, which is the focus of its "Enjoy My Japan" campaign it launched last year. Additionally, the JNTO and Avanti Destinations recently produced a 36-page e-brochure titled "Japan: A World Apart." Available via Avanti's agent portal, the brochure spotlights less-visited destinations, and it highlights events and destinations for each of the four seasons.
Like Japan, the UAE sees an opportunity to highlight lesser-known aspects of its tourism and "for people to get to know who the real people of the UAE are, away from the glitz and glamour," according to Marjan Faraidooni, deputy chief visitor experience officer for Expo 2020 Dubai, a six-month event that begins Oct. 20.
Despite the event's name, "delivery of the expo is a national project," Faraidooni said, and officials seek to encourage Expo 2020 Dubai visitors to explore the UAE beyond its largest city. To that end, itineraries designed in conjunction with companies such as Ya'lla Tours will provide options to extend visits to locales beyond the expo site, she said.
"For example, we are expecting a lot of visitors to come through the Abu Dhabi Airport," Faraidooni said, and those visitors "will have itineraries that extend to the cultural offerings that are in Abu Dhabi. This is where we work with tour operators to make sure that we are able to extend visitor stays to go to the other parts of the Emirates."
For other destinations, 2020 will likely be less about promoting off-the-beaten-path experiences and more about getting their visitor numbers back on track.
For the Dominican Republic, it means rebounding from a year in which visitor arrivals plummeted following reports about several tourist deaths at all-inclusive resorts in Punta Cana and La Romana. Although investigations by the FBI and local authorities concluded that the tourists died of natural causes, the destination continues to face perception challenges and is looking to travel advisors to help allay fears.
"Consumers need educated agents, and there is no better way to sell the product than to have agents come down and see for themselves," Kevin Froemming, Playa Hotels & Resorts' executive vice president and chief commercial officer, told a group of 35 U.S. agents on a November fam trip to Punta Cana.
In the year ahead, the Bahamas will continue to rebuild in the wake of Hurricane Dorian as well as assure potential visitors that while the hurricane "walloped the Abacos and Grand Bahama Island there are also 14 other islands that are beautiful, palm-fringed and open for business," according to the Bahamas tourism ministry.
As with the Dominican Republic, the Bahamas has turned to travel advisors for support. As Travel Leaders Group CEO Ninan Chacko said about the Bahamas in September, "One of the best ways we can help is to get the facts out and encourage travel."