The number of overseas travelers visiting Fukuoka is soaring. In 2007, 719,970 people came from abroad through Fukuoka Airport or Hakata Port to visit the city. This is an increase of 15% from the previous year, continuing a four-year trend of double-digit growth. Over those four years, the number of foreign tourists has roughly doubled from a total of 365,151 in 2003. Particularly worthy of note is the rise in the number of South Korean tourists. To deal with the heavy influx, Fukuoka City opened a call center service providing tourism information for foreigners in English, Chinese, and Korean in July 2008. The telephone number is 092-751-6904, and can be accessed by any kind of phone. Apart from the telephone tolls, the service is free. It is available every day from 10:00 to 18:30 except for the year-end holiday period. Information related to the private sector, including transportation facilities, accommodation, shopping, and dining and drinking, is also provided. This is the first time a local government in Japan has provided tourism information on the private sector over the telephone.The service operators are able to answer a wide range of questions by linking to the city’s tourism centers and call centers. The tourism centers and the telephone interpreters work together to find the answer the tourist is looking for.
Fukuoka City also operates two brick-and-mortar tourism information centers in Tenjin and at Hakata Station, where tourists can have their questions answered in English and other languages. A total of 71,334 foreigners used this service last year, roughly four times as many as the 18,308 who used it in 2003. At the Tenjin center, most of the tourists ask for directions to shopping or dining locations, while those at Hakata Station usually ask transportation-related questions. The cities that overseas tourists enjoy and want to visit again are those in which people on the street can casually help out anyone having problems navigating the town. I hope that all of us in the city are willing to cheerfully help any tourists in difficulty without leaving it up to the tourism professionals.
