On July 13th, the Osaka Prefecture Association of Travel Agents (OATA, President Masakazu Tokuhara, Osaka International Travel) and the OATA Liaison Council (President Motokazu Ando, Ando Reservation Center), organized by the receiving organizations, held the "2017 OATA Summer Beer Party" at the Sheraton Miyako Hotel Osaka in Tennoji Ward, Osaka City. About 300 people attended. At the beginning, Chairman Ando offered words of condolence to the people of Fukuoka and Oita, which were affected by the Kyushu heavy rains, and Nagano, Hokkaido, and Kagoshima, which were hit by the earthquake, and said, "Let's brace ourselves with the thought that 'Tomorrow's natural disasters could happen to us,'" and called on everyone to "drink and talk a lot today to relieve the fatigue of their daily work." Chairman Tokuhara said, "Since this spring, the new board members and secretariat staff have been working hard and positively on our business. We are also working hard to recruit new members, which is essential to revitalizing OATA. Six companies joined the year before last, two last year, and four companies have already joined this term, and we are still in the process of discussing membership with several more companies." He indicated his intention to continue to work toward building a trustworthy OATA that can meet everyone's expectations. Chairman Tokuhara then introduced Liu Haisheng, Chief Representative of the China National Tourism Administration Representative Office in Osaka. Liu, who took the stage, asked for cooperation in efforts to promote friendship between Japan and China, saying, "I sincerely hope that we can continue to work together with you to promote exchanges between Japan and China and produce new results." After this, Vice Chairman Maeda Eiji (Osaka Daiei Travel) led a toast, and the party started with a big raffle where people could win accommodation vouchers and other prizes. Before the party, a local information booth was set up in the reception lobby of the venue, and seven organizations appealed to OATA members for new information and events. The seven organizations are: Ishikawa Prefecture Tourism Association, Wakayama Prefecture Aoi-kai, Yamaguchi Prefecture Tourism Federation, Tottori Prefecture Hakuto-kai, Kagawa Prefecture Kanko-kai, Fukui Prefecture Osaka Office, and Kochi Prefecture Osaka Office.