At a press conference held on March 27, the Japan Association of Travel Agents (JATA, Chairman Takahashi Hiroyuki, also Chairman of JTB) announced measures to prevent recurrence of fraudulent cases by member travel agencies, such as overcharging local governments for COVID-19 related work, including the establishment of a compliance promotion office, the establishment of disciplinary procedures in the articles of incorporation, and ongoing compliance training. The association will also ask member travel agencies to set up compliance-related departments, create manuals related to the acceptance of public business, and introduce electronic systems to make operations more visible. In response to the succession of fraudulent cases by member travel agencies, such as overcharging local governments for COVID-19 related work and fraudulent receipt of employment adjustment subsidies, JATA established a committee of experts consisting of five lawyers and others in December last year to prevent recurrence and asked them to compile the causes of the fraudulent cases and measures to prevent recurrence. At the beginning of the press conference, Chairman Takahashi stated, "I deeply apologize for the trouble and concern caused to those involved by the series of inappropriate cases in the public service contract business and employment adjustment subsidies. JATA established an expert committee in December to analyze the causes of the fraud and consider measures to prevent recurrence. Based on the recommendations, we have compiled specific countermeasures. The Chairman will take the lead in steadily implementing the countermeasures and work to eradicate fraud cases from the industry." In the report compiled by the committee, the main causes of the fraud cases were pointed out as: lack of knowledge about the contract business, which is different from the travel industry; a corporate culture that is excessively oriented toward profits and an attitude that disregards compliance; inadequate management systems to prevent fraud; and insufficient governance of regional committees, such as the absence of organizational regulations. In response to this, JATA has compiled specific measures that JATA and its member companies will take. Of these, JATA will work on strengthening governance of local branches, reforming the association's management system, and reforming training. As measures to strengthen the management system, in addition to the compliance hotline already set up outside the association, a new compliance promotion office will be established within the association, and disciplinary procedures will be established, as well as a system for encouraging association officials to resign. As for the reform of training, a compliance subject will be introduced in the regular training for travel agency managers held every five years, and training specialized in public service contracts will be continuously implemented. Regarding the timing of these trainings, JATA has stated that while a certain amount of preparation time is necessary for the new training, it will promptly establish a compliance promotion office. On the other hand, it will encourage member travel agencies to reform their corporate culture by using electronic systems for business management and establishing internal management systems, such as setting up compliance departments, shifting away from the sales performance paramountcy, and introducing personnel evaluation methods other than profit growth. Furthermore, since fraud cases have occurred at regional branches, etc., it will ask management to frequently visit branches to share compliance awareness and to implement annual training for branch managers. As for the branch manager training, JATA aims to establish a training system by JATA as a measure to reduce the burden on small member companies.