ELECTRONIC BARTER TRAVEL 

WHEN THE EGYPTIAN GOVERNMENT ASKED NIPPON ELECTRIC COMPANY (NEC) FOR ASSISTANCE IN ATTRACTING JAPANESE TOURISTS TO EARN FOREIGN CURRENCY, THEY WORKED OUT A DEAL THAT MAY SET A PRECEDENT FOR BIGTIME BARTER TRAVEL IN THE FUTURE.

HERE IS THE PACKAGE: NEC AGREED TO EXPORT TOURISTS -- UP TO 3,000 ANNUALLY -- FROM JAPAN VIA EGYPT AIR. THE FIRST 700 WILL QUITE LIKELY BE IN CAIRO VIDEOTAPING THE PYRAMIDS BY THE TIME YOU READ THIS.

IN RETURN, NEC, WHO ALREADY CONTROLS HALF THE TELEVISION ELECTRONICS MARKET IN EGYPT, GETS A LARGER AND CONTINUING HOLD ON THE LOCAL MARKET. HOW? BECAUSE THE EGYPTIAN GOVERNMENT AGREED TO SPEND HALF THE AIRFARE EARNED, PLUS ALL THE MONEY SPENT BY THE TOURISTS, TO BUY TV PARTS FROM NEC. LAST YEAR A GOVERNMENT-CONTROLLED ELECTRONICS ASSEMBLY PLANT ORDERED PARTS FROM NEC FOR 260,000 TELEVISION SETS.

WITH THE PUSH BY THE JAPANESE GOVERNMENT TO PERSUADE CITIZENS TO SPEND MORE MONEY TRAVELLING ABROAD, THIS MAY BE A FORERUNNER OF A NEW TREND IN THE TRAVEL INDUSTRY. A TRADITIONAL PROBLEM IN DEALING WITH VACATIONS AND THE JAPANESE IS THAT THEY WOULD RATHER WORK. LAST YEAR, 80 PERCENT OF ALL SALARIED WORKERS IN JAPAN REFUSED TO TAKE ALL THEIR VACATION TIME. THE JAPANESE NOW MAKE MORE MONEY PER YEAR -- WHEN CONVERTED TO DOLLARS -- THAN ANYONE ELSE IN THE WORLD (US$19,642 COMPARED TO US$18,403 FOR AMERICANS). YOU JUST CAN'T IGNORE SUCH A POTENTIAL MARKET. EVEN JAPANESE UNIONS ARE DROPPING WAGE DEMANDS AND ASKING FOR MORE HOLIDAY TIME TO COOPERATE WITH THE GOVERNMENT PLAN. NO ONE CAN YET TELL IF THE STRONG TRADITIONAL WORK ETHIC PRACTICE OF CENTURIES CAN BE EASILY DISPLACED IN THIS NEW ERA.

BUT WITH THE SUPPORT OF JAPANESE GOVERNMENT AND UNIONS, AND WITH NEC ROUNDING UP TOURISTS AS A NEW SEGMENT OF LONG-RANGE BUSINESS PLANS, THERE IS A BETTER-THAN-EVEN CHANCE OF LONG-TERM SUCCESS. THE ULTIMATE EFFECT ON THE INTERNATIONAL TRAVEL INDUSTRY IS YET TO BE UNFURLED.

LOOK FOR SIMILAR AND EVEN MORE STARTLING DEALS, AS GOVERNMENTS AND GLOBAL COMPANIES FIND "TRAVEL-TRADING" CAN BE MORE PROFITABLE THAN DEALING IN CASH.

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