Anticipating a spike in visitors in town for the Olympic Games, the island of Shikoku is shouting out its surprising event venues and improving connectivity.
A sleepy mountainous island south of Hiroshima, Shikoku is looking to the upcoming Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games in May to bring in a stream of events and meetings, with its tourism board and stakeholders gearing up to raise awareness of the destination.
This comes as the nearing Games are expected to drive up crowd density and hotel prices in Tokyo, a concern that may potentially turn business away from Japan altogether, expressed Tadashi Kaneko, executive vice president, Japan National Tourism Organisation (JNTO). To mitigate this, JNTO is focusing on promoting local gems in outlying regions through a 100 Experiences in Japan book.
One of Japan’s such hidden destinations is Shikoku, which comprises four prefectures: Ehime, Kochi, Kagawa and Tokushima. Kagawa Prefecture’s Takamatsu is one of Shikoku’s main cities that have carved out space, and a name for hosting business events and exhibitions.
Located along the Seto Inland Sea, Takamatsu is known for its maritime transportation industry, and the Kagawa Prefectural Government and Takamatsu City Convention and Visitors Bureau provides financial assistance of up to ¥10 million (US$91,320) to support conventions and events.
“Takamatsu has a convention centre and hotels that make it very convenient as a business and conference destination,” said Yuka Minami, manager, Tourism Shikoku.
This convention centre is Sunport Takamatsu, which houses a main hall with 1,500 seats, two small halls, 12 meeting rooms, as well as an exhibition space. Notable events held here include the 27th National Ambulance-crew Symposium in January 2019 for more than 6,000 pax; the 2018 joint 14th iCACGP Symposium and 15th IGAC Science Conference; and G7 ICT Ministers’ Meeting in 2016.
But events are not limited to the convention centre, as the city is populated with historical and cultural facilities also available for hire. These include Hiunkaku, the second house of the 12th feudal lord of Takamatsu; outdoor museum and Kabuki theatre Shikoku-Mura at the foot of Mount Yashima; and the scenic Ritsurin Garden, where the conserved Sanuki Guest House and Kikugetsu-tei Teahouse are also available for conference and meeting bookings. The Sanuki Guest House, also known as the Commerce and Industry Promotion Hall, hosted the G7 Summit’s luncheon.
Over in Kochi, the city is slowly turning its strength as a holiday destination into one with meetings appeal.
Taichiro Oogi, staff, department of inbound tourism, Kochi Visitors & Convention Association, lamented: “We do not have enough facilities, and we have not welcomed any big and international MICE-related events yet; Kochi has always been a leisure destination.”
He believes that the city would require greater promotional efforts and more information exchange on the meetings front, as well as venue development, before it is able to flourish as a business destination.
As such, Kochi is banking on its attractiveness as a pre- and post-event destination to draw its share of groups.
For instance, the tourism board collaborated with Singapore-based ABCDE Fitness on a marathoner package that included flights, accommodation at Mont Bell Mountain Lodge, warm-up sessions with a local running group, passes for the Kochi Ryoma Marathon in February 2020, private tours and workshops, and a dinner with local residents.
Such creative collaborations are essential to attracting visitors today, said Takanori Asai, deputy director, Kochi Representative Office in Singapore. He expressed: “It has become really hard to promote a destination through traditional means, so we’ve had to come up with new ways to promote Kochi.”
Also, travel to Shikoku is also set to become even more accessible, with China Airlines’ flights between Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport and Takamatsu Airport recently coming online, and a new highway connecting Kochi Regional Airport and Kochi City currently under construction.
