189.1% increase in access compared to the previous year!
Data-Driven Smart Tourism: KANSAI Tourism Bureau's New Tourism Marketing Model
KANSAI Tourism Bureau
2025.09.15
Mr. Akinori Ikenari, Director of Digital Marketing Department
Mr. Atsushi Takuwa, Producer of Digital Marketing Department
For many foreign visitors to Japan, “Kansai” often evokes images centered around cities like Osaka and Kyoto. However, the Kansai region possesses rich and diverse tourism resources that extend far beyond these well-known cities. The Kansai Tourism Bureau has taken on the mission of conveying “Kansai’s profound charm” to the world and attracting foreign visitors to explore the broader Kansai region in depth.
In this interview, we delve into the multilingual tourism information website “The Gate to KANSAI (G2K)” operated by the Kansai Tourism Bureau, focusing on the data dashboard built in collaboration with Vpon JAPAN. We explore the background of its implementation, actual results achieved, and future prospects.
SUMMARY
01 Pain Points
- Unable to grasp user focus and intent, making it difficult to formulate targeted strategies.
- GA (Google Analytics) only displays basic metrics and fails to provide the deep insights needed for improvement.
- Unable to understand trends by country and topic, making it difficult to deliver effective marketing content
02 Solutions
- Implementing Vpon tracking tags across all pages
- Establishing a visualization dashboard that displays interest data by country / region and theme.
- Developing a data analysis environment for analyzing behaviors (such as traffic sources, dwell time on page, and return visit rates).
03 Results
- Visualization of interest topics and trends by country / region, enabling improved PDCA cycle implementation.
- Accurately measure the effectiveness of campaign measures and easily share with stakeholders.
- The number of accesses grew significantly by 189.1% compared to the previous year (FY22: 1.66 million → FY23: 3.14 million).
Background
ー Please tell us about the challenges you faced before introducing Vpon’s service.
Mr. Ikenari: While we could see visitor numbers, we couldn’t grasp the “depth of interest and experience intent.”
The Gate to KANSAI (G2K) website was originally built with a multilingual structure to provide information to travelers from around the world. However, tools like Google Analytics only display basic metrics such as page views and sessions, and we couldn’t capture specific and detailed needs such as topics that users were interested in or trends by country.
Under these circumstances, it was difficult for us to implement effective promotional campaigns and improve content.
Reasons for Choosing Vpon
ー What made you decide to choose Vpon?
Mr. Ikenari: The major deciding factors were their expertise in data utilization and track record in the tourism field.
Vpon has a track record of supporting multiple local governments and tourism organizations, and has a wealth of know-how in marketing to foreign visitors to Japan.
We were particularly attracted to their ability to analyze user behavior data on websites, and wanted to create an environment where we could quantitatively see whether our content was truly resonating, so we decided to ask them for help.
Effects After Implementation
ー Please tell us about the effects and results you have achieved by using Vpon’s services.
Mr. Takuwa: We were able to visualize topics of interest for each article and trends by country / region through a dashboard, which enabled us to implement a PDCA cycle for content optimization.
In this dashboard implementation, we integrated Vpon tracking tags across all pages, allowing us to use data to understand trends of which countries’ users show strong interest in topics such as “cuisine,” “activity experiences,” and “historical culture.”
Now, after publishing new content, we can also verify strategic effectiveness from dimensions such as traffic sources, dwell time, and browse rates. The ability to see results progress more intuitively represents a major breakthrough, making it easier for us to focus on content SEO optimization.
It’s also user-friendly when submitting reports internally and externally, enabling us to have more persuasive discussions with stakeholders.”
The Gate to Kansai (G2K) Access Numbers: Past Trends and Targets
Future Outlook and Message
ー Please tell us about future challenges and what you expect from Vpon.
Mr. Takuwa: We want to visualize the marketing efficiency funnel for Kansai and each region, and formulate a fundamental strategy to determine what factors each region should focus on to promote regional tourism development. For this purpose, it is important to clarify from what perspectives and approaches we should analyze which data, and to build a unique framework with “Kansai Characteristics”. Furthermore, this should not be limited to website data alone, but should also integrate diverse data such as survey research and consumer spending data. We hope that through visualization on the dashboard and updates to the marketing funnel structure, we can make policy formulation and implementation more strategic and efficient.
A Message to those Considering Vpon
Mr. Ikenari: “When you can see the numbers, things change.” I truly feel this.
Tourism promotion is a field where decisions tend to be made intuitively, but by visualizing “where and to whom it resonates,” our strategy has changed, and the common understanding among all parties has deepened dramatically. As a result, it has become easier to tackle content SEO. We have once again realized the importance of the quality of how content is communicated, which is the foundation of marketing.
Vpon is a partner that combines expertise with flexible adaptability.
I believe they will be a very reliable partner for those who want to “promote tourism more effectively” and “make data-driven decisions.”
Company Name
KANSAI Tourism Bureau
Company Location
Location Osaka Nakanoshima Building 7F, 2-2-2 Nakanoshima, Kita-ku, Osaka
Business Scope
Proposing comprehensive policy directions for the Kansai region based on market trends (Marketing & Targeting)
Collecting detailed information across the Kansai region and disseminating marketing messages overseas
Supporting infrastructure development for receiving foreign visitors to Japan (Support for enhancing accessibility and comfort)
Establishing a comprehensive tourism promotion framework for the Kansai region
Responsible for cultural promotion and other related projects in the Kansai region “
