On January 26 - 28, the New York Times held its annual "The New York Times Travel Show" where many different travel companies and people in the travel industry come together to discuss all things related to travel. The 2018 show also happened to be the 15th anniversary of this occassion and of course we couldn't miss that!

Last year and this year, the event took place at the Jacob K. Javitz Center in New York City. Many booths representing different countries were there! The event went over a course of three days, where the first day was mainly for businesses and people involved in the travel industry. The second and third days were open to the general public to interact with travel agencies, businesses, and people representing different countries. These days were great for anyone curious about any countries, or those wanting to talk to travel and tour agencies. Admission was $59 to attend the first day of the event if you bought the ticket in advance, but at the door, the price went up to $79 for the "Full Day Travel Industry Conference & Exhibition" ticket. The consumer day tickets were either $20 for a one-day ticket or $25 for a two-day ticket. Children 18 and under were free admission.

The travel show was primarily focused on two main things. The first was for different industry professionals and official government travel agencies to share information with each other and also create an opportunity to potentially work together, and the second was to bring useful travel information to the general public as well as promote traveling to various countries. People were able to walk from booth to booth gathering information about various countries, travel companies, and even collect freebies and sample local foods. 

For the days of the travel show, the area was bustling with people, all eager to learn about things related to their travel needs, and booths conveniently set up with brochures, information pamplets, and catalogues. H.I.S. participated this year as an extension of JNTO, Japan National Tourism Organization, to encourage travel to Japan. Although the location was crowded, there never seemed time to mention all the great things about Japan to everyone there, but it was a great opportunity to let everyone know a bit about Japan and H.I.S.!

Under the Japan travel section of the travel show, people were giving out samples of various Japanese dishes like okonomiyaki, a savory Japanese pancake, and offered opportunities to collect prizes as well. 

H.I.S. was there with their own booth set up as well, ready and eager to answer any Japan related travel questions that people may have had. In our booth we were ready with knowledgable travel agent representatives, catalogues highlighting some tours to Japan, and information on travel products that would be useful to anyone interested in traveling to Japan. Many people were in and out of the booths, and it seemed to be a busy day for everyone!