Aussie Swearing Bemuses Japanese

[Mock Cockpit]

Being a troll and being funny aren't mutually exclusive goals. Fucking hell.

[Mulboyne]

WA Today: Koala cuddling not enough to lure Japanese

JAPANESE tourist operators in Australia have warned their industry is on the verge of collapse. Australian Bureau of Statistics data shows 15,700 Japanese tourists came to Australia in June - a fall of 45 per cent compared with June last year and a 59 per cent decrease on the same month in 2002. One tour operator, who asked not to be named, said a large Asian travel firm had released most of its Sydney fleet drivers, rehiring them at cheaper rates...He blamed much of the downfall on Tourism Australia, which he said used a one-dimensional marketing strategy that has been losing steam since the mid-1990s. Experts agree. University of NSW academic Roger March said research showed the No.1 reason Japanese came to Australia was to cuddle a koala, but this research refers to only a narrow demographic. Dr March said tourists were now more likely to be younger, to travel overseas more than once a year, to spend less each trip and these tourists - who are not being addressed in the marketing campaigns - were looking for "soft adventure" trips...A Tourism Australia spokeswoman said a report released last week linked the long-term decline of tourists to the slowing Japanese economy and reduced airline capacity. She said figures in June were also depressed because of panic over swine flu. ''Hawaii was down by 32 per cent, New Zealand by 67 per cent and Singapore by 31 per cent, so the Japanese weren't going anywhere in June,'' she said.

[Mike Oxlong]

The travel industry has destroyed travel. It's all about come and visit, but you'd better drop the family fortune, or we'll talk smack about your country. People are tired of being screwed abroad, when they can get screwed at home for less...

[Ketou]

The travel industry has destroyed travel. It's all about come and visit, but you'd better drop the family fortune, or we'll talk smack about your country. People are tired of being screwed abroad, when they can get screwed at home for less...

I'd have to agree with that. I worked in tourism during the 90s, the kickbacks and incentives were huge. The major tour operators gouged huge profits off the restaurants, duty free shops and optional tour operators. All this of course was passed on to the tourist.

[Behan]

I'm just guessing, but I imagine that tour operators could offer to bring lots of customers to hotels, restaurants, shops, etc, in exchange for kick backs. I know a tour conductor who told me she would eat for free at the restaurants they would go to.

[Ketou]

I'm just guessing, but I imagine that tour operators could offer to bring lots of customers to hotels, restaurants, shops, etc, in exchange for kick backs. I know a tour conductor who told me she would eat for free at the restaurants they would go to.

Yep. We would get 20% kickback off everything organized. Meals, shopping, optional tours the whole lot. When the Japanese tourist arrived in the morning they were sold meals tickets, tours, nothing in the itinerary was left. On the way home to the airport they were taken via duty free shops....fleeced.

In the early 90s I would get everything for free. Restaurant meals, trips out to the reef upon whim, even hotel stays...was a blast.