Japanese island Hokkaido, a paradise for nature lovers and adventure travellers

With seven national parks and a host of special adventure tours led by certified guides, Hokkaido is an ideal destination for fans of the great outdoors and has brought its rich tourism offer to ITB Asia 2024.

Hokkaido, Japan’s northern-most island, is blessed with magnificent natural landscapes. An island as big as the surface area of Austria, Hokkaido has no less than seven national parks including the majestic Daisetsuzan mountain range, lake Toya, the active volcano Mount Usu, the beautiful lakes and mountains of Akan, the UNESCO World Heritage site Shiretoko, and the newly designated national park, Hidakasanmyaku-Erimo-Tokachi.

With its rich natural environment, Hokkaido is gaining more and more recognition as an adventure travel destination. This September, Hokkaido began promoting special tours supervised and accompanied by its certified adventure travel guides. There are five key experiences on offer, including cycling on Rishiri Island, a cape Kamui night tour on Shakotan Peninsula, trekking in Toya-Usu Geopark, winter biking on the approach to “the phantom bridge” over Taushubetsu river, and forest walking with the Ainu cultural experience in Biratori.

To enable visitors to make the most of these experiences and travel through the island’s natural landscapes safely, the Hokkaido local government launched the Hokkaido Adventure Travel Guide qualification system in 2023 whereby certified guides are required to meet the standards of international qualifications in order to conduct these tours.

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