Unique venues Happo-en and The Grand Ginza Japan have recently taken an interest in the international business events markets in hopes of diversifying their revenue sources which are currently driven by mostly domestic bookers.
Mayank Dabral, spokesperson of Happo-en’s global sales section, told TTGmice that the company had only started global sales recently.
Happo-en comprises 14 banquet halls set in a 300-year-old traditional Japanese garden in central Tokyo. The company also has its own production catering, planning and designing team.
“Shortly after we launched our English website, we’ve been getting many direct email queries,” said Dabral.
He detailed: “Singapore is one of our target markets for incentives. We are also targeting Hong Kong and Vietnam. For Singapore and Hong Kong, they are countries where a lot of head offices of global companies are located, which equates to larger budgets for incentives.”
Currently, the international market stands at about 30 per cent of Happo-en’s business mix, while the remainder belongs to the domestic market. Out of this 30 per cent, 70 per cent is Asian, while Europe makes up the rest.
When asked what his target was, Dabral said that by 2020, he hopes to have a 50-50 split between the domestic and international markets.
The Grand Ginza, opened earlier this year in April, inspired managing company Value Management to start marketing its business events spaces internationally.
The Grand Ginza is housed on the top floor of Ginza Six building in Tokyo. Covering an area of 1,500m2, The Grand Ginza offers three banquet rooms – the largest of which can hold 140 standing, and a 120-pax (seated) multipurpose hall.
Fuai Zhang, Value Management’s head of marketing, told TTGmice: “Right now, our international market is less than 10 per cent of our overall business. We hope to grow this to 30 per cent by 2020.”
To achieve a stronger international presence, Value Management took part in Visit Japan Travel Mart for the first time this year.
Aside from The Grand Ginza Japan, the company manages four other venues such as the 400-year-old heritage venue Osaka Geihinkan in Osaka Castle Nishinomaru Garden, which only came under the company’s management last year.
In addition, Value Management also manages three small luxury hotels – Sasayama Castle Town Hotel Nipponnia, Takeda Castle Town Hotel, and Auberge Toyooka 1925. On the hotel side, they are aiming to manage 50 hotels by 2020.
