On 13 July, Mr Yamaki, Director of the Fukuoka Prefectural Government’s Hong Kong office, visited our office in Sydney. Fukuoka Prefectural Government is focusing on increasing tourists from Australia for the upcoming Rugby World Cup (RWC) in Japan in 2019. Several World Cup matches will be held in Fukuoka, Oita and Kumamoto, so the local governments are cooperating to expand the promotion of their regional tourism content to the market overseas. They have already made similar visits to France and Hong Kong this year with this in mind.
The Fukuoka Prefectural Government aren’t just limiting their efforts to sports fans, though- they are working hard to establish Fukuoka as the perfect destination for enthusiasts of Japanese pop culture, such as anime and manga. They have provided information about pop culture hotspots, activities and more through their prefectural-run website “asianbeat FUKUOKA” for more than 10 years (made in 2005). Mr Yamaki attended SMASH! (Sydney Manga and Anime Show) to scope the event for future tourism promotion activities.
CLAIR Sydney looks forward to working closely with the Fukuoka Prefectural Government in future to support their activities and raise awareness of Fukuoka as a fantastic tourist destination for Australians.