The ceremony was attended by General Director of Vietnam National Administration of Tourism Nguyen Van Tuan; Deputy General Director of Vietnam National Administration of Tourism Ha Van Sieu; Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Japan to Vietnam Kunio Umeda; President of Japan Tourism Promotion Agency Ryoichi Matsuyama; Deputy General Director of Japan Tourism Agency Yasuto Kawarabayashi and representatives of ministries, departments and branches 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 development. In 2016, there were about 230,000 Vietnamese visitors to Japan and more than 700,000 Japanese visitors to 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 visitors from the two countries, further developing the friendly cooperation relationship between Vietnam and Japan.
Director General Nguyen Van Tuan happily informed that in the period 2010-2016, the number of Japanese tourists to Vietnam increased 1.7 times, an average of 9%/year; the number of Vietnamese tourists to Japan increased 5.6 times, an average of 33%/year. The Director General believes 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. In the immediate future, we will aim to celebrate the 45th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries in 2018, and at the same time aim for the target of 1.5 million two-way tourists in 2018, including 1 million Japanese tourists to Vietnam and 500,000 Vietnamese tourists to Japan.
The Memorandum of Understanding between the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism, the Japan National Tourism Organization and the Japan Tourism Agency aims to promote tourism destination marketing initiatives between the two countries and enhance visitor exchange, information and experience sharing in areas of mutual interest.
The representative office of the Japan National Tourism Organization (JNTO) based in Hanoi aims to enhance activities promoting Japanese tourism in Vietnam, through promoting the provision of tourism information via the website www.camnhannhatban.vn, and at the same time implementing stimulus policies, promoting tourists from large cities with potential for economic development in Vietnam to many localities in Japan.
