The Japan Tourism Agency and the Japan Association of Travel Agents have called on their countrymen to travel to 24 countries and regions, including Vietnam, to help revive tourism.
The other places are mainland China, Hong Kong, South Korea, Taiwan, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, India, Canada, the U.S., Hawaii, Guam, Mexico, Spain, Finland, France, the U.K., Germany, Italy, Turkey, and Australia.
While the number of visitors to Japan has grown steadily since border restrictions were eased last year, lingering Covid concerns and the weak yen are believed to be dissuading Japanese from traveling abroad.
To incentivize international travel, JATA said it would gift 8,000 yen (US$60) in electronic money by lottery to 3,210 people who acquire a 10-year passport and fly internationally between July 1 and September 30, Kyodo News reported.
Vietnam received over 241,000 Japanese visitors in the first half of this year, double last year’s figure. Before the pandemic, Japan was Vietnam’s third biggest source of foreign tourists after China and South Korea.
