Vietnam-Japan to enhance mutual tourism
(TITC) - On 24th October, in Ha Noi, Japan National Tourism Organisation (JNTO) in Vietnam organised a Japan Tourism Seminar. It is an event to provide information and updates on the Japanese tourism as well as current immigration policies, introducing tourism programmes, products and services. Mr. Ha Van Sieu, Vice Chairman of Vietnam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT) attended and spoke at the event.
Attending the seminar were Mr. Kurose Yasuo, First Secretary of Embassy of Japan in Vietnam; Mr. Yoshida Kenji, Representative of Japan National Tourism Organisation (JNTO) in Vietnam; Mr. Vu The Binh, Chairman of Vietnam Tourism Association (VITA); representatives of departments of VNAT, airlines, travel and tourism businesses.
Giving a welcome remark at the seminar, Mr. Ha Van Sieu - VNAT’s Vice Chairman said, thanks to many cultural similarities with Japanese people, along with the diversity and richness of tourism products from culture, heritage, ecology to high-class beach resorts stretching from North to the South, in accordance with the preferences and needs of Japanese people, Vietnam has received huge attentions from Japanese people. On top of that, Japan has also been one of Vietnam's preferred destinations for tourism.
In 2019, Vietnam welcomed a humongous number of nearly a million of Japanese visitor arrivals and nearly half of million Vietnamese visitor arrivals to Japan vice versa. Since Japan has always been a key tourist market, post the full restoration of the tourist market from 15th March 2022, VNAT has implemented a series of measures to restore and develop tourism related to policies, immigration procedures, promotion and stimulation.
An early achievement was shown with over 1.8 million international visitor arrivals to Vietnam in the first 9 months of 2022, including 96,000 Japanese visitor arrivals, up 16 times compared to the same period of 2021.
Japan Tourism Seminar is genuinely an opportunity for businesses to update new and appropriate information, destinations and products to actively implement tourism plans and programmes connecting the two countries. The favourable immigration policies between the two countries will definitely contribute to promoting the exchange of visitors between Vietnam and Japan, towards prompt and sustainable development, emphasised VNAT’s Vice Chairman Ha Van Sieu.
Mr. Kurose Yasuo, First Secretary of the Embassy of Japan in Vietnam is glad to inform delegates at the seminar that Japan is officially restoring the tourism activities from 11th October 2022. The easing of travel restrictions to Japan had been stressed in 3 main points: (1) Remove restrictions on entry for international visitors. International tourists who come to Japan on a package tour or self-sufficient tour can enter Japan from now on; (2) The restriction on the maximum number of people entering Japan in a day has also been lifted; (3) International flights to local airports will be resumed in turn as before the Covid-19.
Mr. Kurose Yasuo hopes that the number of tourists in both sides will have a robust recovery in 2023 - marks the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Japan and Vietnam, open up a new era for the both countries and hand in hand leverage the relation of Japan and Vietnam to a new height.
At the seminar, representatives from Japan Airlines (JAL) and All Nippon Airways (ANA) had their introduction on operating activities, connecting flight routes and promotions and incentives for tourists, and organising a quiz game for attendees.
Source: Tourism Information Technology Center