The Diplomat
The Japan National Tourism Office (JNTO) has launched an advertising campaign to attract Spanish tourism and the rest of Europe and which is led by the Spanish international footballer Andres Iniesta.
As reported by the JNTO and the Spain-Japan Council Foundation, the advertising campaign has been launched jointly with Rakuten, the largest online store in Japan and official sponsor of FC Barcelona, the club in which Iniesta played throughout his career professional until his signing for the Japanese Vissel Kobe.
The objective of the campaign is to promote Spanish and European tourism to Japan, in line with the Japanese Government’s goal of reaching 40 million foreign visitors by 2020 and increasing tourist spending for visitors to eight billion yen (64,000 million euros). According to data from the JNTO, more than 118,900 Spaniards visited Japan in 2018, which is 19.1% more than the previous year.
The campaign consists of a series of videos in which the Spanish soccer player shows the charms of several places in the Asian country, such as Kobe, headquarters of his current team; or the city of Nara, where he makes a family visit. The videos can be viewed on the RakutenTV YouTube channel and on the Facebook profile of the Japan National Tourist Office.
The campaign will include other parallel activities, such as an online campaign that will allow participants to enter the draw for flights to Japan and FC Barcelona merchandise signed by club players, or the installation, on February 2, of an information stand of the JNTO at the FC Barcelona stadium and the broadcast of the presentation video of the Iniesta campaign on the main screen of the Camp Nou.
