私の憧れているデビトさんの情報で、先週の新聞に出た：国道交通省の調査によると「国際観光ホテル整備法」に登録している旅館やホテル１５６０施設の約40％が外国語によるサービスを行っていなくさらに約23％が「行っていないし、行う予定もない」だそうです。この法に登録すれば、固定資産税の軽減などあるそうです。
私もよく分かりませんが、長野のインバウンドの大先輩と相談したら、
我が旅館の世界の中で大体3つの協会に登録している：
日観連 www.nikkanren.or.jp 4000施設 （亀清も）
国観連 www.ryokan.or.jp 全国の55,000件の内の1300幹
全旅連 www.yadonet.ne.jp 残りの4700幹?
1940年代にJRのきかけであるレベルの制限を越えた旅館の指定が今の日観連になった。そして、「国際レベル」と言うステータスの為に、国観連もできた。両方共は国道交通省の下に入っている。
全旅連は厚生労働省の下に入っていて、マーケティングより衛生関係の目的だそうです。
そして、上記の「国際観光ホテル整備法」の登録している１５６０施設の旅館の分は恐らく国観連の事だと思います。「国際」というのは外国人を受けているより、日本人のお客さんにアピールためだとのことが多く、なおかつ税金の割引は会費で消されているらしいです。
My buddy Debito-san posted some interesting info from last week's newspapers: according to an MLITT survey, of the 1560 hotels and ryokans registered with the Law for Improving International Tourism Hotels, approx. 40% don't provide foreign language service, and a further 23% had no intention of doing so either.
I checked in with my "Inbound" senpai here in northern Nagano, and found out the following:
Debito-san, Thanks as always for the great info.
I conferred with my Inbound "senpai" here in Nagano, and offer the following possible explanation of why inns registered as "international" aren't actually international.
In the ryokan universe, there are 3 main organizations with whom we typically register:
Nikkanren -- Japan Ryokan Assoc. (www.nikkanren.or.jp; 4000 members, including yours truly)
Kokkanren -- Japan Ryokan & Hotel Assoc. (www.ryokan.or.jp, boasts 1300 members of a total of 55,000 ryokans in Japan)
Zenryoren -- All Japan Assoc. (www.yadonet.ne.jp; the remaining 49700 inns?)
Back in the 40's, JR formed what became the Japan Ryokan Assoc. based on accreditating inns that met a minimum level of requirements.
Then a group of snazzier inns formed the Kokusai (=International) Kankou Kyoukai aka Kokkanren supposedly for a more international level of service, but in actuality mainly for a more cosmopolitan image. Both organizations are now under MLITT.
The Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare overseas the Zenryoren, which is focused more on cleanliness issues than marketing.
The Kokkanren inns are likely the ryokan component of the above-mentioned 1560 establishments, and 40% is likely a low figure. That's because they use the international image as status in attracting domestic guests, not because they provide service to foreigners. And any tax benefits are offset by high membership fees.
FYI, there are groups of ryokans actively working to provide better service to guests from overseas, such as
Japanese Inn Group http://www.jpinn.com/
Welcome Inns http://www.itcj.or.jp/
Our inn recently joined the former. I thought it would be a slam dunk, as I am 6'7", oops, a native English speaker. But when they came to inspect, they pointed out we had no English sign out front of our inn. (Got that fixed right away!) My point is, they are serious about serving foreigners.
Unlike the Kokkanren inns.
