Contribution of tourism consumption to Japan's economy (in 2002)

## Chapter 2: Making Japan a Tourism-based Country; A beautiful country

## [Roles and development of a Tourism-based Country]

Tourism provides a breath of live and comfort, adding color to people’s lives. Yet tourism has many other important roles: stimulating the national economy, promoting exchanges among people, revitalizing regions and communities by promoting local industries and creating jobs, promoting international friendship, and contributing to world peace.

In his general policy speech on the 156 $ ^{th} $ session of the Diet, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi announced that the government will strive to promote tourism, saying the government aims to double the annual number of visitors to Japan from other countries up to 10 million by 2010.

In April 2003, the Japan Tourism Advisory Council released a report that calls for “nation-building that provides a good living habitat and a good place to visit.” This led to the establishment of the ministerial council on tourism promotion. The following July, the ministerial council formulated the Japan Tourism Action Plan with the Cabinet Secretariat and MLIT playing a central role.

# The Japanese Tourism Action Plan Gist of the Japan Tourism Action Plan

### I. Promote Japan Tourism for the 21 $ ^{st} $ century

•Promote Japan Tourism to the world—inviting ambassadors in Japan to the Prime Minister's Office

•Organize symposiums on Japan Tourism

•Promote the “Visit Japan Campaign” to the public

### I I. Establishing national and regional charms

## “One region, one tourism”

•Add “Database on Japanese Regional Tourism Resources” to the tourism policy section of the MLIT website, which also encourages the public to rediscover regional charms.

•Open “tourism charisma school”

• Implement pilot projects designed to create a “tourism and exchange zone”

• Support the national campaign aimed at promoting “cohabitation and interaction between urban and rural areas” as part of efforts to encourage hands-on tourism (“all right” Nippon campaign).

•Ensure coordination with other programs, including the Urban Renaissance and Promotion of Special Zones for Structural Reform initiatives.

## Developing beautiful landscapes

• Establish a landscape assessment system for public works projects.

• Improve the regulatory climate for landscapes

• Adopt stricter regulations on outdoor media such as billboards

• Promote the wider use of underground power cables

### I V. Creating an attractive tourism environment

An environment where overseas visitors can travel alone

• Conduct progress monitoring by people from other countries

• Ensure that signposts, etc. are easy to understand for overseas visitors

(Specific steps include: establishing guidelines on signposts; checking to see if they are easy to understand and improve them if necessary; increasing the number of signports and tourist information centers accessible to overseas visitors; and studying ways to provide easy-to-understand information at train stations.)

• Conduct research and demonstration experiment on IC cards that can be used at shops and for public transport in Japan and other countries

### V. Implementing the Japan Tourism strategy

### I II. Promoting the "Japan Brand" to the world

## Promotion at the top level

•Promote the country’s tourism when the prime minister or cabinet ministers visit foreign countries and when heads of state visit Japan

•Shoot a promotion video in which the prime minister appears and broadcast it in selected markets

## V isit Japan Campaign (VJC)

•Promote VJC through: (i) PR and ad on foreign media, and (ii) provision of information to travel agencies overseas for the development of tourism products that offer a visit to Japan

•Set up a portal site that offers Japan’s tourism resources in many languages

•Launch a VJC promotion association that banks on public-private partnership and involves the local Japanese embassy and consulates in 20 countries and regions

## Streamlining the immigration procedure

•Regarding group tourists from China for sightseeing, accept visa applications at the Japanese Consulate-General in Guangzhou, improve the arrangements for such tourists, and expand the eligible areas for visa application

•Speed up the immigration examination process with the introduction of the Advance Passenger Information System (APIS)

## Reducing tour costs

•Assess the popularity and impact of discounts for overseas visitors regarding public transport, tourist facilities, etc.

• Provide information on accommodations that meets the needs of overseas visitors

•For smooth implementation, establish a council at the bureau-director level under the ministerial council on tourism promotion.

• Check and assess the results of implemented measures regularly and take corrective actions if necessary (the adoption of the Plan-Do-See approach).