TheSaigon Times Daily quoted Vu The Binh, Vice Chairman of the VietnamTourism Association (VITA), as saying that the association’srepresentative office in Japan was finalising preparations for membersof the Japan Association of Travel Agents (JATA) to survey theVietnamese market.
“They are the leading operators of domesticand outbound tours in Japan. This is an opportunity for our localcompanies,” Binh said.
Japan is an important market for Vietnam’stourism sector, contributing more than 317,000 arrivals in the firsthalf of this year, a year-on-year rise of 7.9 percent. Local travelagencies expect the number of Japanese visitors will jump this yearowning to the new flights launched by Vietnam Airlines and closecooperation between tourism authorities of the two countries.
Thismonth, the national flag carrier launched two new air routes connectingVietnam’s Da Nang and Hanoi cities, and Japan’s Narita and Hanedaairports near Tokyo, and is running many activities to drum up these newservices.
JATA has identified Vietnam as one of the majormarkets for its members and Japanese travel firms have conducted moreprogrammes for the Vietnamese market.
Binh said inaddition to arranging the trip, the representative office of VITA ispreparing a number of promotion programmes at some upcoming events inJapan and will organise theme seminars in Tokyo to build a strong bridgebetween travel firms of the two sides.
Vietnam looks to welcome one million Japanese visitors next year, 400,000 higher than last year.
Vietnamattracted more than 4.28 million international visitors in the firsthalf of this year, up 21 percent year-on-year. Japan was the thirdbiggest visitor-generating market in the period after China with 1.13million and the Republic of Korea with 405,000.
In the oppositedirection, many Vietnamese travel firms are expected to enjoy therelaxations of visa requirements from the Embassy of Japan.
TheSaigon Times Daily said the Embassy will release the list of firmssubjected to this loosened visa policy, adding that the move would helpboost Vietnamese tourists to Japan in the time to come.
Japan’sMinistry of Foreign Affairs on June 17 announced to loosen visarequirements for citizens of Indonesia, the Philippines and Vietnam,with multiple-entry visa requirements for Philippine and Vietnamesecitizens relaxed significantly. Besides, single-entry visa requirementsfor tourists from these two countries are eased and almost equivalent tovisa exemption if tourists apply for visa via an appointed travelagency.
The number of Vietnamese tourists to Japan increased to90,000, an increase of 150 percent against last year's figure. Theupward trend is forecast to continue growing this year thanks topromotion activities of Japan’s tourism body in Vietnam and its specialpolicies offered to Vietnamese tourists.
Japan expects to attract 200,000 Vietnamese arrivals in 2015.-VNA