The move was made to boost outbound tourism and support Japan’s airline and travel agencies amid the slow recovery due to Japanese people’s hesitancy to resume foreign trips after the COVID-19 pandemic.
JTA and JATA announced a list of 24 destinations as part of the initiative to unveil the slogan “Ima-koso! Kaigai” (Now is the time to travel abroad).
The 24 destinations under the project on promoting foreign tourism including China, Hong Kong (China), the Republic of Korea, Taiwan (China), Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, India, Canada, the US, Hawaii, Guam, Mexico, Spain, Finland, France, the UK, Germany, Italy, Turkey, and Australia.
Tourist offices in these destinations will partner with the JTA and JATA to enhance the attractiveness of their services to the Japanese market, while travel companies in Japan will create more competitively priced tour packages aimed at young people.
“We hope that this announcement will be a good opportunity for people to travel abroad,” the JTA said in a statement.
JATA Chairman Hiroyuki Takahashi noted: “The campaign aims to pave the way for the recovery of tourists during the summer break”.
About 20 million Japanese people are expected to travel abroad in 2024, equivalent to the level before the pandemic.
The number of Japanese visitors to Vietnam grew steadily in the 2015-2019 period, with an average growth rate of 9.1% per year.
