The Kansai branch of the Japan Association of Travel Agents (chief director: Kiyohide Mitsuyama, president of JTB West Japan) held a New Year's party on January 5th at Hotel Hankyu International in Kita-ku, Osaka. About 400 people participated, including employees of member companies, consulates in Kansai, and tourism-related companies and organizations. In his New Year's address, Chief Mitsuyama said, "2017 was a relatively strong year for both corporate and individual demand," and introduced the headquarters' planned activities for 2018. One of them is the expansion of the business area related to the travel industry, saying, "Outbound travel was included in the Japan Tourism Agency's budget for 2018 for the first time. We would like to develop measures to achieve 20 million overseas travelers. For domestic travel, we will utilize the tourism resources created by DMOs." He also said, "We must improve the business environment," including restoring trust in light of the large-scale bankruptcies that occurred last year, reforming work and vacation styles, and working on human resource development, and said he would reflect the headquarters' policies in the activities of the Kansai branch to revitalize Kansai. Guest speaker and director of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism's Kinki Transport Bureau, Sakano Koji, said, "Kansai is leading the inbound market, generating investment and jobs, which in turn is revitalizing the economy. We will work together to achieve our goal of 40 million visitors by 2020. We also want to utilize our favorable aviation network for outbound travelers," and called for further progress in all-Kansai efforts.