Reaching out to Japan

THE Costa del Sol wants to tap into the growing Japanese tourism market and attract more visitors from the country by adapting to their particular needs and requirements.

Almost half a million tourists came to Spain from Japan last year, and 26,000 of them came to Malaga province and proved especially drawn to Ronda and Mijas, leading Tourism Costa del Sol to draw up an ambitious €600,000 project to attract even more.

The plan, with 65 per cent public and 35 per cent private funding, includes 60 measures to make Japanese travellers, known to be particular about what they want while on holiday, feel at home.

Adapting menus and portion sizes, avoiding being too chummy, providing damp towels before meals, maps, flasks of hot water and slippers in hotel rooms and offering rooms with baths rather than showers are just a few of the ideas proposed along with adding Japanese signs and drawing up specific tourist routes, safety campaigns and promotional campaigns in Japan.