Press Release 2005

Star Alliance announces the winners of Visit Japan sweepstakes 

Star Alliance, the airline network for earth™, today announced the results of a world wide sweepstakes promotion to encourage travellers to visit Japan under the Star Alliance supported Visit Japan [Yokoso Japan ] campaign.

Winners from New Zealand, Singapore, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States each won business class flights for themselves and partner to Japan plus 10 night’s hotel accommodation.
Winner Professor Wayne Edwards from New Zealand was thrilled: “My wife and I are excitedly looking forward to experiencing first hand something of the rich history and culture of Japan. This wonderful opportunity will enable us to take the trip of a lifetime to a country that obviously fascinates and entrances. We gratefully acknowledge the generosity of the sponsors, Star Alliance, VISA and ANA.”
Another winner, Mr Wolfgang Eger of Switzerland added: “We thought we had just won a book on Japan. You can imagine our surprise and joy when we found out the book was to actually help us plan our vacation in Japan. We never thought it would happen to us. I am very much looking forward to my holiday in Japan with my wife Natasha and son Oliver Sultan”.

Each contestant had to answer questions relating to Japan and the Star Alliance network services to Japan, while travelling on board Star Alliance carriers.

Louise McKenven, Vice President Marketing and Loyalty, Star Alliance remarked: “This competition definitely achieved its purpose of getting passengers involved in learning more about Japan. Star Alliance has put considerable effort into supporting the Visit Japan campaign so we are glad to see our carrier customers benefiting from it.”

In addition to the six winners of the travel prizes, luggage and encyclopaedias were also offered as runner up prizes to 30 people.
 
Star Alliance was established in 1997 as the first truly global airline alliance to offer customers global reach and a smooth travel experience. The members are Air Canada, Air New Zealand, ANA, Asiana Airlines, Austrian, bmi, LOT Polish Airlines, Lufthansa, Scandinavian Airlines, Singapore Airlines, Spanair, TAP Portugal, Thai Airways International, United, US Airways and VARIG Brazilian Airlines. South African Airways will join the alliance within the next 12 months. Overall, the member carriers offer more than 15,000 daily flights to 795 destinations in 139 countries.

Visit Japan [Yokoso Japan] is a year long campaign by the Japanese Government, All Nippon Airways and Star Alliance to encourage tourism into Japan. The goal of the Yokoso Japan campaign is to increase the number of visitors to Japan from 4.8 million foreigners in 2001 to 10 million in 2010.

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