junket

毎週日曜日The Japan Timesに掲載されるRoger Pulvers氏のコラム、COUNTERPOINT、２月２８日のタイトルは： Feeling revulsion may signal you're finally home away from home
と逆説的な表現でした。　その中の一文に、以前も何度か見たことのある単語（"junket"）が出てきましたが直ぐには思い出せなかったので今度は確実に覚えたいと思いました。
What then made me any different from them? I, too, was wearing the latest Japanese designer clothing. I, too, had been sent as a VIP on this publicity junket.
"junket" を辞書で見ます。
・OneLook Quick Definitions: a trip taken by an official at public expense
・Dictionary.com: a trip, as by an official or legislative committee, paid out of public funds and ostensibly to obtain information.
次ぎの説明文は最近見つけたThe Word Detectiveというサイトからの抜粋です。
Today, as you say, "junket" is used to mean a festive social affair, or, more commonly, a trip, especially a trip taken by a politician and paid for by taxpayers. A "press junket" is a sponsored trip offered to journalists, either to accompany a gallivanting politician or to visit a corporate facility or the like. If the Mayor of Acapulco, for instance, were to offer to fly me down and put me up in a fancy hotel in order that I might inspect and report to my readers on the dictionaries in that city's no doubt fabulous libraries, that would be a "press junket."
どこかの首長もオリンピック誘致を理由に豪華な "junket" をしたと聞いた事がありますね。