The Kyoto Prefecture Travel Industry Cooperative Association (Chairman Uehara Tatsuo, Art Tourist) recently held a "Discussion and Exchange Meeting with Partner Organizations" at the Kyoto Hotel Okura in Nakagyo Ward, Kyoto City, with 260 people in attendance. Chairman Uehara said in his opening remarks, "I think the travel industry is an information industry. I hope that everyone gathered here today will gain a variety of information and use it to improve their business." After this, there was a report on the current status of the association's activities, and it was reported that as of September 5th, there were 49 members, and the amount of coupons issued up to August was 942 million yen (99.1% of the same period last year). By type of ticket, both accommodation tickets and sightseeing tickets have been sluggish, but charter bus tickets and other boat tickets have been doing well, increasing by 120 to 114.8%, thanks to the effect of the charter bus off-season campaign that was started the year before last. Chairman Uehara called for continued cooperation this year as well with the "Kyoto Travel Marutoku Unit Plan Recommended Accommodations," a unit plan for eight or more people that was started in 2014. The Okazaki Sakura and Wakaba Corridor Jikkokubune Cruise was operated for 44 days from March 25th to May 7th, with 20,570 passengers aboard, the largest number of passengers to date. The reasons for the large number of passengers were analyzed as follows: (1) the cruise started at 8am, 30 minutes earlier than usual, and (2) the online advance reservation system was well received, with 2,557 reservations made by 6,696 people (203 reservations, 613 of which were foreign tourists) during the period, including walking tours and optional plans. In addition, the number of passengers usually drops sharply after the cherry blossoms have finished blooming, so the cruise strengthened its efforts to attract passengers during the new green season. The name was changed to "Okazaki Wakaba Corridor Jikkokubune Cruise" from April 15th onwards, and the banners and happi coats were changed from pink to green to improve the image, and price ranges such as parent-child discounts were set to attract more passengers. The next lecture was given by Yoshinori Sano, a former professional baseball player who is currently a baseball commentator for TV stations in the Kansai region, who gave a speech entitled "Everything depends on you - Whether good or bad, it's up to you. Face yourself and liven up the tourism industry." Sano said, "No player can hit 100%. No one can hit 40%. No matter what you do, you can only hit 30%, but you have to practice to hit 100%. Ichiro, who turns 44 this year, has more practice to do every year, and he continues to do it, which is why he is still active. His attitude of not giving up on his own potential is amazing." He gave a cheer to the participants at the venue, saying, "Your work is in a cruel world, but it has the power to create memories and make travelers smile. I hope you will work hard with confidence." At the business meeting that followed, members of the Kyoto Travel Association enthusiastically visited the booths set up by hosting organizations such as Kochi Prefecture and Wakayama Prefecture to gather information and deepen their exchanges. The social gathering was also attended by Kyoto Governor Keiji Yamada and Kyoto City Mayor Daisaku Kadokawa.