Establishment of Japan Alliance of Responsible Travel Agencies (JARTA)

Published on February 13, 2018

On the occasion of the 2017 International Year of International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development, a number of responsible travel agencies in Japan has united to establish the Alliance of Responsible Travel Agencies. We are committed to deliver high quality tourism products and services. The members are all specialized in delivering the unique local experiences that you do not see in the bigger wholesaler mainstream travel agencies. What differentiates us from other businesses is our ability to truly connect with our customers and the local communities, and provide the exceptional, compassionate service the tourism stakeholders deserve.

Although we have the same background as travel agencies, each of us are unique in the area we specialize to operate. JARTA makes us proud of delivering the responsible tourism products to the world marketplace while we share the same common values. There is no other similar group seeking synergy by the travel agencies in Japan. We are highly committed as each of the agencies are already up and running - not to mention the good reputation we have obtained in the years of operation till date. The biggest challenge will be finding the right source of funding and partner travel agencies are like-minded. We want to challenge the mainstream travel agencies to covert them into practicing more responsible actions on the ground. We may be able to create a ripple effects in the other parts of the world for cross-learning and mutual benefits in the tourism marketplace. The first meeting on the Promotion of Responsible Tourism by licensed travel agencies in Japan took place in January 2018.