Full-scale Launch of Generative AI-powered Chatbot Service Tailored to Sapporo Tourism and Gourmet Event

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Sep 12, 2025 ITOCHU Techno-Solutions Corporation

ITOCHU Techno-Solutions Corporation (headquartered in Minato-ku, Tokyo; Tatsushi Shingu, President and CEO; hereinafter CTC) will provide a generative AI-powered chatbot service to the Sapporo Tourism Association (located in Sapporo City, Hokkaido; Akihiro Sasahara, Chairman), an organization dedicated to promoting tourism in Sapporo.

This service features a chatbot specialized in tourism and events, designed to efficiently and automatically respond to inquiries. It will be utilized during the 2025 Sapporo Autumn Fest, starting on September 12, 2025, to enhance the customer experience and satisfaction of tourists visiting Sapporo, while also streamlining inquiry-related tasks by its staff members.

The 2025 Sapporo Autumn Fest is a 23-day food event with the main theme of Food of Hokkaido and Sapporo, offering visitors the opportunity to enjoy seasonal ingredients and local gourmet specialties from across the region. Last year, the venue-Odori Park-welcomed over 2.5 million visitors.

CTC has offered this service as a pilot program since the 2023 Sapporo Autumn Fest, continuously refining it to better address frequently asked questions (FAQ) and anticipated future inquiries. Through analyzing question contents and expression patterns, the chatbot has been tuned to enhance both usability and expressiveness-not only providing simple answers about menu items, but also offering information on food categories and supplementary details. Additionally, to cater to foreign tourists' needs, the service has been made available in five languages.

As a result of these efforts, the 2024 event saw a 67% increase in chatbot users and a 48% increase in access volume compared to the previous year. Based on this success, the service was once again adopted for the 2025 event-not only to provide information more efficiently, but also to enhance customer experience (CX) and improve staff operational efficiency.

By obtaining information from database of the event's website, this service allows the generative AI-powered chatbot to automatically respond to inquiries with details such as restaurant stall names, locations within the venue, menu items, prices, and event programs. By searching for participating restaurant information from vague questions or keywords entered by users and guiding users through natural conversational interactions, it facilitates seamless navigation to restaurant stalls and enhances event operational efficiency.

Additionally, it scrapes information from Welcome to Sapporo, the official tourism information website operated by the Sapporo Tourism Association. This allows visitors to make real-time inquiries not only about event details, but also about nearby tourist attractions, local cuisine, and accommodations. With multilingual support, the service provides a comfortable and seamless travel experience for both domestic and international tourists.

The system platform utilizes Microsoft's generative AI service, Azure OpenAI Service, which enables correction of spelling inconsistences through natural language processing and automatic generation of training data. The service adopts SmartRobot, a comprehensive AI application featuring chatbot functionality, developed by Intumit, Inc. to deliver optimal responses through task-specific dialogue design and response control. By integrating these technologies, it enables both high-quality and rapid visitor support.

CTC will continue to enhance and optimize FAQ contents and information services to meet the evolving needs of tourism and event-related use, contributing to improved convenience and satisfaction for visitors.