Bangkok--22 Feb--Image Impact
White Pegasus Trading Co., Ltd., an Osaka-registered company, announced today that it would launch the first Japanese overseas resort club in Asia on March 1, 2007, starting with a base in Thailand. The announcement was made by the company’s Chairman, Mr. Seiji Miura, at a press conference along with President Yoshihiro Kanae and other senior company executives, who flew into Bangkok from Osaka especially for the event.
White Pegasus aims to woo the growing number of the Japanese ‘grey population’, estimated to reach 7 — 8 million within the next 3 years, which mainly consist of retirees born during the baby boom period of 1947 — 1955, as well as the increasing number of independent tourists with high incomes such as investors, business owners and professionals.
The resort club concept is popular in Japan, but until now it has been focused mainly on Japanese domestic hotels. “What we want to offer to our members are cozy resorts and high-quality hotels, where individuals, married couples or families can truly relax and enjoy themselves with a certain level of privacy rather than being part of a tight-scheduled tour group. Therefore, unlike other accommodation providers, we are not seeking properties that have sightseeing attractions on their doorstep”, explained Chairman Seiji Miura.
Currently, White Pegasus has 65 allied hotels, which are located in Thailand, Bali and The Philippines. In Thailand, for example, first class hotels such as The Sukhothai and the Nailert Park in Bangkok and the Four Seasons in Chiangmai are amongst its allied hotels, while in Bali there are the Bvlgari and The Legend to name but a few. By the end of March 2007, the company plans to expand its business partners to include hotels and resorts in Hawaii, Tahiti, Australia and New Zealand, while other partners in Europe and the Middle East will be added later.
White Pegasus’ President, Mr. Yoshihiro Kanae said, “Only really good resorts will be chosen as our partners in specific countries in each region as we want to be able to offer guest rooms that are a class above the normal accommodation available. In addition, our concept is like a ‘social’ club. As our main target groups are 50 to 70 year olds who have plenty of time and money on their hands, we plan to offer value added services such as golf, gourmet dining, medical services and cultural seminars”.
Mr. Ryuji Yamamoto, President of White Pegasus Japan, who is in charge of membership sales said, “We will sell membership through special agents, of which we presently have 30 around Tokyo and Osaka. We plan to increase the number of special agents to 100 in the future”. Members are offered various benefits such as discounted rates, special services and events, selection and information. The company has partnered with Kinki Nihon Tourist Osaka Business Travel Center to provide guest room reservation, airline ticket sales and local assistance for its members such as package tours on a worldwide network.
In Japan, resort membership service, which targets the ‘baby boom’ generation is popular. These are basically joint ownership of real estate properties or ‘time-shares’. Therefore, enrollment fees are very expensive and can cost up to 10 million Yen. However, White Pegasus presently does not own any real estate, but specializes solely in providing service, making the membership enrollment fee relatively low, but yet offering a variety of choices of hotel or resort accommodation on a long-stay basis to its members, who enjoy traveling to new overseas destinations.
“The number of our members is set to reach 10,000 in the second half of this year, and within the next two years we hope to reach 30,000. Our target is to achieve 100,000 members as soon as possible”, added Mr. Kanae Hiroshi, Representative Director of White Pegasus.
According to statistics from the Tourism Authority of Thailand, 1,311,987 Japanese visited Thailand last year, reflecting a 10% growth compared to 2005.
For further information, please contact:
White Pegasus Trading Private Limited
4-5-7 Minamihonmachi Chuo-ku Osaka Japan 541-0054
Tel. ++81662454551
Fax. ++81662454545
Attention: Mr. IWATA
or
Image Impact Ltd.
Chutinun Guna-Tilaka ext. 118
Tel. 0-2253-6810-2
Fax. 0-2253-6805