Survey charts favorites of prospective foreign first-time visitors

The Okinawa Convention Bureau (OCVB) recently conducted a survey on things visitors would like to buy and restaurants they want to visit. 892 first-time visitors from Taiwan, Hong Kong, and South Korea were interviewed for they survey.

The top three things they planned to buy when visiting the prefecture were snacks, dresses and accessories, and general goods. And a surprise, quite few of them expressed interest in purchasing real estate.

Reportedly, the multilingual contact center managed by OCVB receives every year inquiries on possibilities to purchase property here. Some foreign visitors come here specifically searching investing opportunities in real estate.

Several answers pointed out that public transportation was reportedly inconvenient outside Naha City, which they had earned from the Internet.

Regarding the purpose of visiting Okinawa, 497 answered, “for relaxation”, 428 answered “to eat delicious food” and 332 answered, “shopping”. 73 people, almost all from Taiwan, said that they were coming to Okinawa, “to have medical checkup or treatment.”

Regarding the kind of restaurants they wanted to visit, 576 answered “Okinawa food restaurants”, 522 said “Japanese restaurants” and 209 wanted to visit an “Izakaya” (Japanese style pub).

Some of the visitors asked for introduction of authentic Japanese restaurants, other than Ramen or Yakiniku restaurants that are popular among foreign tourists.

OCVB conducted the survey at travel expositions held in Taiwan, Kong Hong, and South Korea during 2016.

Busena

14:37 29 Mar , 2024