Vietnamese visitors to Japan growing steadily

Ito Kazuhiro, director of the Japan National Tourism Organization (JNTO) in Bangkok, told Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper that the number of Vietnamese visitors to Japan has risen by more than 53% compared to the same period last year.

Vietnam is currently among Japan’s top 10 foreign tourist markets and enjoys the third-fastest growth rate, after only mainland China and Hong Kong, in the East Asian country’s tourism sector, Kazuhiro noted.

“Despite the absence of official statistics, our estimates have indicated that approximately 10% of Vietnamese tour buyers return to our country for the second time,” he added.

The JNTO branch director stressed that Japanese travel firms have made a point of promoting their country’s appeal to their Vietnamese counterparts.

All the prefectures home to gorgeous places of interest are keen to welcome vacationers from the Southeast Asian country.

Representatives of Vietnamese and Japanese travel firms exchange information at a workshop held in Ho Chi Minh City in mid-November 2015. Photo: Tuoi Tre

JNTO once sent up to 41 representatives of Japanese prefectures on one single trip to Vietnam for the activity, according to Kazuhiro.

However, he admitted that among five million Vietnamese arrivals abroad each year, only 200,000 are recorded in Japan.

He attributed it partly to visa requirements.

“Though Japan has eased visa requirements for Vietnamese travelers on organized tours, not all applications for Japanese visas are accepted, which lies beyond our power,” he explained.

Kazuhiro pointed to the current lack of direct flights from major Vietnamese airports to Japan as another important reason.

Vietnam is now connected to only four destinations in Japan with a low daily flight frequency.

Vietnamese vacationers mostly tour around Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka and Nagoya, while there are many other stunning sights to explore elsewhere in Japan.

By contrast, some other Southeast Asian countries like Thailand boast multiple flights per day from their airports to at least six or seven destinations in Japan.

JNTO is slated to organize a clutch of tourism events to better introduce the country’s charm to potential Vietnamese visitors in early 2016.

The organization also plans to hold regular meetings between Japanese representatives and Vietnamese travel firms for this exact purpose.

Speaking about the Vietnamese tourism sector’s failure to attract one million Japanese arrivals in 2015 as planned, Kazuhiro asserted to Tuoi Tre that the Japanese do find Vietnamese sights, cuisine and souvenirs alluring.

However, he blamed the poor foreign arrivals on the Japanese economic malaise, which has caused Japanese people to refrain from holidays abroad over the past two years.

“A recently launched direct flight from [the central city of] Danang to Tokyo will hopefully boost arrivals among Japanese tourists fond of Hoi An [a UNESCO-recognized ancient town located in the central Vietnamese province of Quang Nam] in the coming months,” Kazuhiro added.

He also urged that Japanese holidaymakers be better informed of Vietnam’s new destinations and services as well as its tempting cuisine.