The Year 2007 is the Dawn of Japanese Travel Medicine

Toshihiro Koga, MD

The year 2007 promises to be a special year in Japan for travel medicine and for the travel industry.

The Japanese Society of Travel and Health (JSTH), which was established in 1997, will be giving its first travel medicine examination at the end of 2007. The examination will test health care providers about their basic knowledge of travel medicine

Due to the amendment of the Japanese Travel Agency Law in 2005, travel agencies are now obliged to inform customers prior to departure about the safety and health risks of their trips. Therefore, for both the tourist and for travel agency personnel, there is an increasing need to have access to travel clinics that can provide appropriate pre-travel consultations including recommendations of the necessity of vaccinations.

The year 2007 could be a special year for the Japanese travel industry for another reason. A significant number of postwar baby boomers are retiring and many plan to travel overseas. According to surveys taken by the JTB Corporation, one of the largest travel agencies in Japan, 50.2% of such individuals are planning to travel abroad to celebrate their retirement. More than 17 million Japanese departed for overseas in 2006, and the Japan Association of Travel Agents expects that the figure may reach 20 million in 2007.

In 2006, the Japanese Society of Travel Health provided a training course on basic knowledge of travel health for the first time, targeting tour conductors, and renewed the website so that tourists can easily identify travel clinics within Japan.

Dr. Koga is with the Health Care Division, Japan Overseas Health Administration Center. He is also a regional editor of NewsShare.