TRP Japan Co., Ltd., an Okinawan company based in Itoman, has started a baby-sitting service for foreign tourists visiting Okinawa. As the number of families taking tours with children has increased, TRP offers to take care of their babies or children when the parents go out on diving tours or dining in high-class restaurants. The aim is to improve the satisfaction of foreign tourists while increasing their purchase of local services.

This is the first service of its kind in Okinawa, and still rare in all of Japan. The company has already started the service this month, and forged a partnership with four companies including Okinawa Tourist Service and Southern Beach Hotel.

TRP Japan provides staff with a childcare or kindergarten teacher license and foreign language ability. When TRP receives a request, they send staff that suits the client’s needs. A variety services include spending time together with the baby and parents, taking care of the child on the hotel premises, or in a children’s facility.

The service currently employs 15 staff, and aims to increase it to 100 that would allow the company to accept up to 1,000 customers per month. TRP calls the service “World Kids”.

Although the number of foreign tourists to Okinawa has been increasing, there is much that remains to be done. According to a survey by Okinawa Prefecture in 2015, the number of foreign tourists traveling with family was up 34.6%. Those who enjoy marine leisure activities were up 31.5%. In addition, the popularity of hands-on experiences is rapidly increasing. Because of such trends, TRP expects the potential need for baby-sitter services high.

Tatsuya Yamada, the CEO of TRP, says, “You can have a comprehensive support for baby-sitting in Hawaii where there are many family tourists, and the possibility is high that those tourists will be repeaters. I suppose that we can make a contribution to Okinawa’s tourism by attracting high-class tourists and increase their prospects of using more services while here.”

• 
• NO DATA