Japan lures visitors with 10,000 free flights

Japan wants you. Still suffering from tourist-deficiency after the March earthquake and tsunami (and subsequent nuclear crisis), Japan plans to make you visit.

The bait? A free airline ticket.

The Japan Tourism Agency has proposed doling out free roundtrip airfare to 10,000 foreign tourists next year. It hopes to revive tourism and the nation's reputation in the process.

The project would only cover airline fees, with the visitor paying for their own food, lodging and excursion expenses. Still, the initiative would cost the country about $14.3 million, around 10 per cent of the agency's 2012 budget.

"Since the earthquake, the number of visitors has dropped drastically, so to make an impact we think it's necessary to have this many people (10,000) come to Japan," said Shuichi Kameyama, a Japan Tourism Agency official.

August 2011 saw 32 per cent fewer tourists than August 2010. Japan's earlier efforts at using celebrities such as Lady Gaga to reassure travellers that it was safe to visit didn't pay off as hoped. Perhaps, a price tag of zero will do the trick.

Details of the giveaway have yet to be published, but potential travellers will have to submit an online application that details why they want to visit the country and which cities and regions they'd like to see. Upon returning from their Japan adventures, free-ticket recipients will need to submit stories from their trips to be published online. Tourism authorities hope that positive reports from travellers will help ease international worries about visiting the country, the Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper said.

Japan isn't the only country with the "free flights for tourism" idea. Jaunted reported on Chile LAN Airlines' surprise giveaway last week. The company "pulled an Oprah" and gave 200 restaurant patrons in New York City free roundtrip tickets to South America.