Vietnam and Japan sign cooperation agreement on tourism development.

The ceremony was attended by Mr. Nguyen Van Tuan, Director General of the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism; Mr. Ha Van Sieu, Deputy Director General of the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism; Mr. Kunio Umeda, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Japan to Vietnam; Mr. Ryoichi Matsuyama, President of the Japan Tourism Agency; Mr. Yasuto Kawarabayashi, Deputy Director General of the Japan Tourism Agency; and representatives from various ministries, departments, and agencies of Vietnam and Japan.

Speaking at the ceremony, Chairman Ryoichi Matsuyama emphasized that the friendly relationship between Vietnam and Japan is developing very well, including tourism. In 2016, approximately 230,000 Vietnamese tourists visited Japan and over 700,000 Japanese tourists visited Vietnam. He hoped that the signing of the memorandum of understanding between the two sides and the establishment of the Japan National Tourism Organization (JNTO) representative office in Vietnam would contribute to increasing the number of tourists exchanged between the two countries and further developing the friendly cooperative relationship between Vietnam and Japan.

Director General Nguyen Van Tuan happily stated that during the period 2010-2016, the number of Japanese tourists visiting Vietnam increased 1.7 times, averaging 9% per year; the number of Vietnamese tourists visiting Japan increased 5.6 times, averaging 33% per year. The Director General expressed confidence that the establishment of the Japan National Tourism Organization (JNTO) representative office in Vietnam will contribute to promoting cooperation between the two countries in the tourism sector, concretizing the contents of the Memorandum of Understanding. Looking ahead to the 45th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the two countries in 2018, the goal is to achieve 1.5 million two-way tourist arrivals in 2018, including 1 million Japanese tourists to Vietnam and 500,000 Vietnamese tourists to Japan.

The memorandum of understanding between the Vietnam National Tourism Administration and the Japan National Tourism Organization and the Japan Tourism Agency aims to promote tourism destination marketing initiatives between the two countries and enhance visitor exchanges, information sharing, and experience exchange in areas of mutual interest.

The representative office of the Japan National Tourism Organization (JNTO), based in Hanoi, aims to enhance the promotion of Japanese tourism in Vietnam by strengthening the provision of tourism information through the website www.camnhannhatban.vn, while also implementing policies to stimulate demand and encourage tourists from major cities with economic development potential in Vietnam to visit various locations in Japan.

The Thanh