With the advent of uncertainty in financial markets resulting from the Sub-Prime Crisis, seemingly endless price rises due to supply shortages of Oil and Commodities, problems in the recording to National Pension contributions, and the introduction of the new National Medical Insurance System for those over 75 years of age, this has been a difficult year economically at every level of society. It is becoming apparent that, anxious at this panoply of increasing costs, the traveling public is gradually reducing its spending. Indications are that demand for every region, including Europe, China & North America will be lower this year than they were last.

This is surely a situation which demands that we in the travel industry closely examine our own business practices, and give serious consideration to how we might best respond to the expectations and trust which our clients place in us. Where up to now, we’ve appealed to the public through concepts such as ‘reliability’ and ‘safety’, an alternative point of view is now questioning whether those claims were anything more than mere words. In the face of such doubts, let’s consider what really constitutes ‘reliability’ and ‘safety’ for a traveler. Just as any product comes with Product Responsibility, so we must conclude that every Travel Product must carry a similar degree of Producer’s Responsibility, applicable at every stage of the Production Process, from Planning, through Purchase and Operation through to Sales.

The recent ‘Falsification Scandal’ in the Food Industry was particularly regrettable as it undermined public trust in Food, one of the very fundamentals of life. Having said this, turning to our own Travel Industry, it is apparent that there are a not insignificant number of products on the market whose detailed content is not clearly defined. It seems eminently clear that the only way to gain the trust of the traveling public is to make all product details fully transparent, to openly announce who has arranged what, and exactly what responsibility is entailed.

We believe that it is vital for Tour Operators to recognize that in such a climate, we will face strong demands to share Product Responsibility with Travel Agencies as they market such products to the traveling public. In my opinion, that will lead to a Partnership of Mutual Co-operation aimed at the goal of Product Transparency.

This must, in turn, lead to the implementation of so-called Global Standards, amongst which we remain adamant that the ongoing problem of Payment-after-the-Service is one which must be remedied for meaningful Product Responsibility to be achieved. These are management concepts for which full and frank mutual discussion is essential.

Another angle of the work we do as Tour Operators is that we bear a responsibility towards the happiness of the people in our respective destinations. At the same time, it is part of our job to ensure that every japanese traveler visiting our respective destinations comes home happy. We firmly believe that this requires all of our members to rekindle the passion with which they started in this business, to take pride in their work, and to become aware of the responsibility incumbent on representatives of their respective destinations.

In closing, we wish success to all of our members, and everyone else in attendance this evening, in the realization of a Partnership of Mutual Co-operation. A very good evening to you all!