New holiday tours of Japan's Kansai region, the cultural heartland of the country, and of Osaka, the top commercial centre, have gone on sale from Emirates Holidays.
Holiday planners at the Dubai headquarters have worked flat out to finalise the tours, which will feature in the next, World of Choice vacation brochure and which are available from travel agents and Emirates Holidays. For an overview of this fascinating country, now linked directly to Dubai by Emirates Airline, six-day tours from Osaka to Kyoto, Tokyo, Mount Fuji, Hakone National Park and Nara via, the Shinkansan bullet train have been arranged. In Osaka itself, customers can book a sightseeing trip covering Japan's two historic capital cities, Kyoto and Nara, unchanged over centuries and standing today as showcases of art, culture, religion and thought. Guided tours of Himeji, with its beautiful castle can be booked in Osaka and tours of Hakone National Park, renowned for its hot springs, can be booked in Tokyo. Created specially to mark the launch of Emirates' Dubai-Osaka route, the full range of holidays also includes Osaka and Tokyo city breaks and for family-minded visitors, optional side-trips are available to Osaka's Universal Studios, Hollywood of the East, and Tokyo's Disney Resort. John Felix, general manager at Emirates Holidays, commented that: "Emirates' new Osaka link will be a highway in the sky for holiday travellers in both directions. As well as giving Japanese tourists a fast track to Dubai, the shopping and leisure capital of the Middle East, it will take holidaymakers from all over the Gulf to this fascinating Far Eastern land." Short-stay visitors spending more than $85 in a day on items available at licensed duty-free shops, do not pay the five per cent consumer tax.