measures to authorize paid guidance by people other than Licensed Guide-Interpreters based on the “Comprehensive Special Zones Act.”

In the meantime, hotels and inns that are suited for lodging by foreign tourists visiting Japan in both terms of hardware and software have been accredited pursuant to the provisions of the “Act on Development of Hotels for Inbound Tourists.” As of the end of December 2012, 1,015 hotels and 1,650 inns are registered.

## 2 Promoting Visits to Japan in an All-Japan Bid

To boost the number of foreign visitors to Japan to 18 million by 2016, the charms of Japanese tourism are being disseminated overseas and the Visit Japan Project is deployed to lure more foreign tourists into Japan.

Staged in Korea, China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, Australia, the U.S., Canada, the U.K., France, Germany and elsewhere, the Project includes

① Taking actions targeting overseas travel agencies, such as inviting staff of overseas travel agencies and putting tour ads jointly with them.

② Taking actions targeting overseas consumers, such as putting ads abroad and inviting overseas media representatives.

③ Taking actions in a global partnership between communities and the Transport Bureau to attract foreign tourists.

④ Encouraging foreign tourists traveling Japan in an All Japan bid by partnering with ministries and agencies concerned, including diplomatic establishments abroad, and private enterprises.

## 3 Fortifying International Competitiveness in the Fields of MICE, such as International Conventions and Conference

Promoting the attraction and sponsorship of MICE $ ^{Note} $ is positioned as a prime force for economic impetus and also as an infrastructure, because it is instrumental in broad areas, such as:

① Economic repercussions

② Evolving business opportunities and innovations

③ Enhanced urban competitiveness and brand power

While competitive Asian nations, out of their recognition of the importance of MICE and the expanding market potentials, are stepping up their efforts to grab MICE opportunities to threaten a proportionate decline in Japan’s international competitiveness. Specific efforts have been made to promote the attraction and sponsorship of MICE and build up Japan’s international competitiveness, such as conducting promotional campaigns abroad. These efforts include participating in the trade fairs held in European, U.S. and Asian regions to consolidate the public awareness of Japan’s MICE brand and inviting MICE magazine reporters to strengthen the market exploitation. Further, the MICE International Competitiveness Enhancement Committee was sponsored in November 2012 to provide a drastic boost to Japan’s approaches, including sophistication of its MICE marketing strategy. In addition, studies were conducted to broaden the population of MICE human resources in Japan, develop human resources capable of leading Japan’s MICE industry in the future and gain an insight into the actual conditions of MICE in an effort to maintain the environment for accepting MICE.

According to International Congress and Convention Association (ICCA) statistics, Japan hosted 233 occasions of international congresses and conventions during 2011, the 13th largest in the world and the second in Asia.