Cashing in on the influx of Japanese

Folio: The Magazine for Magazine Management, May 1, 1991 by Lisa I. Fried

PORTLAND ORE.-About 3.2 million Japanese tourists swept past U. S. customs last year, winning the top spot in the U.S. Travel and Tourism Administration's 1990 overseas visitors rankings. And a market research analyst for the Administration predicts that number will increase by 5 percent to 10 percent a year-possibly reaching as much as seven million to eight million by the year 2000.

Thanks to Pacific Gateway Publications, many Japanese visitors headed for Colorado, Georgia and Oregon are able to read up on U.S, travel and business information in their own language, sometimes before they even set foot on the plane.

In July 1989, Azumano Travel Service, a large Oregon travel agency, assumed financial responsibility for Oregon Trail Magazine, which provides Japanese visitors with information about that state. Later, Azumano's Publishing division, Pacific Gateway Publications, launched similar titles in Colorado and Georgia. A Florida edition is slated to launch in June.

"The Japanese tourist is the number one international tourist in the United States and has the highest spending profile," explains Russell Bausch, associate publisher of Georgia Magazine. "There are not enough magazines to cater to them."

"I think it's a promising business," says Anthony Paul, editor and publisher of Business Tokyo, which covers the Japanese business scene for U.S. executives. "The Japanese people coming here each year read and need service information. It's a very good niche to go after."

Pacific Gateway's parent company operates travel agencies in Oregon, Colorado and Georgia, and launched the titles only after conducting research on Japanese visitors.

Bausch ticks off some of the findings: All passengers on Delta airlines flights from Japan to the United States must clear customs in Portland, Oregon; the Japanese are keenly interested in Colorado real estate; Georgia has increasingly become the site for more Japaneseowned businesses (the state ranks only second to California in the number of Japanese businesses it boasts); and the number of Japanese visitors to Florida- 130,000 in 1990-is growing at a quick pace.

Pacific Gateway's most recent start-up, Georgia Magazine, which launched this past summer, is its most successful to date, reaping about $100,000 in ad revenue each quarterly issue, according to Dave Gemma, publisher of the company's Japanese-language titles. On average, four-year-old Oregon Trail (published three times a year) garners $75,000 in ad revenue an issue. The Colorado title, a two-year-old annual, averages $50,000 to $60,000.

The magazines are all distributed free through several sources. In Japan about 5,000 copies of each issue are circulated through consulates, economic coordinating offices, attaches, travel agencies and U.S. state operated trade offices. Pacific Gateway has been known to double the number of copies bound for Japan when U.S. officials are planning trade missions there. Overseas distribution is important because "advertisers want to reach people in the planning stages of their trips," says Bausch.

Delta Airlines passengers traveling from Tokyo to Portland, Oregon, receive the Oregon title in flight. Those continuing on to Atlanta get the Georgia title. in the three covered states, about 25,000 to 30,000 copies are distributed at maJor tourist sites, restaurants, airports and state trade and economic offices.

Producing the magazines is no easy task. Much of the editorial is written by freelancers in English. Because of the idiomatic differences between the two languages, however, the articles read better if they are rewritten by bilingual editors.

Pacific Gateway is eyeing other locales popular with the japanese, specifically Ohio, New York, California and British Columbia, but isn't likely to go it alone. Company execs are talking to potential joint venture partners who know these markets. Getting in on the action

Publishers in California and New York have also tapped into this huge audience. Last May, Runway Publishing Co. Limited launched Runway New York, a bimonthly upscale travel and lifestyle magazine for Japanese visitors. A California edition covering Los Angeles and San Francisco makes its debut in July; editions for Paris, London and Italy will be launched in November. Also in New York, Bill of Fare Inc. publishes a bimonthly visitor and convention guide to New York City, Japanese City Guide.

Amid the ongoing controversy about the trade imbalance between the two countries, some clever U.S. publishers seem to be developing a yen for reversing the deficit.