Establishment of the ��Ϸisit Japan Campaign' Promotion Committee in the United Kingdom

6 May 04

In order to greatly increase the number of foreign tourists to Japan, the Japanese government is currently making a concerted effort to achieve the goal of transforming Japan into a major tourism country. As part of this effort, the government embarked on the Visit Japan Campaign (VJC) in April 2003.

The aim of this campaign, as announced by Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, is to double the number of foreign tourists to Japan, to ten million, by the year 2010.

As the organisation responsible for carrying out the campaign, the Visit Japan Campaign Steering Committee, which involves both the public and private sectors, has been set up in Japan . Promotion committees have also been launched in countries designated as priority markets. These committees are expected to cooperate with the government in establishing project strategies to suit the characteristics of each market.

From 2004, the Japanese government decided to establish the United Kingdom as one of its priority markets in the Visit Japan Campaign. It is essential to work with UK residents and members of the British tourism industry, who have in-depth knowledge of both Japan and the UK, in order to actively promote Japanese tourism attractions to the British people and so increase the number of UK visitors to Japan.

In this context, the Visit Japan Campaign promotion committee in the UK, chaired by Mr Masaki Orita, Ambassador of Japan, was established on May 5 2004 in order to obtain advice and suggestions concerning specific issues to be addressed for the most effective promotion of the campaign.

Ambassador Orita delivers a speech