The Japan Tourism Association, the Japan Association of Travel Agents, and the Japan National Tourism Organization recently announced the 4th Japan Tourism Awards. The Grand Prize went to Snow Country Tourism Area's "Creating a new brand through regional collaboration DMO: Discovering hidden wisdom in a pure white world." This year, a total of 261 entries were submitted in two categories: domestic/inbound Japan and overseas. New awards were created for the DMO Promotion Special Award, ICT Use Special Award, and UNWTO Ethics Special Award. The awards were decided by a judging committee chaired by Yoshiaki Motobo, representative of the United Nations World Tourism Organization in Japan. Snow Country Tourism Area, which won the Grand Prize, was highly praised for its achievements in regional management as a pioneer of the Japanese version of DMO, and for its thorough product development and quality control that meets customer needs by utilizing marketing. Other awards included Hatagoya and Jinya Connect in the domestic/inbound Japan business category, and JTB Personal Business Headquarters Overseas Procurement Product Division in the overseas business category. The purpose of the awards is to contribute to the development and expansion of the tourism industry by honoring the sustainable and outstanding efforts of organizations and companies both in Japan and overseas. The awards ceremony will be held after the opening ceremony of Tourism EXPO Japan on September 20th.