Japan considers waiving visas for Vietnamese: Japanese media
Wednesday, April 16, 2014, 11:14 GMT+7
Japan is mulling the waiving of visas for tourists coming from Vietnam, the Philippines, and Indonesia as part of a plan to increase the number of tourists to the East Asian nation to 20 million a year, Kyodo News quoted government sources as saying on Monday.
The tourism action plan aims at attracting more tourists from Southeast Asian nations, including the Muslim community, and will be revised in June, the Japanese news agency reported.
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s administration has regarded tourism development as one of the important factors that can drive Japan’s economic growth.
Last year, Japan loosened its policy for granting visas to tourists from Vietnam, allowing a Vietnamese tourist to extend his/her trip in Japan to a maximum of 15 days and make multi-trips within three years.
That kind of visa was previously issued only to officials, experts, business people, and relatives of Japanese nationals.
Japan welcomed 80,000 Vietnamese travelers, 140,000 Indonesian tourists, and 110,000 Filipino visitors in 2013.
Tourists from the three countries have ranked high among the Southeast Asian countries whose nationals still need visas to enter Japan.
So far, Japan has waived visas for tourists on short trips from the Republic of Korea, Taiwan, and 64 other countries and territories.
| Nguyen Vu Quynh Nhu, of the cultural department of the Japanese Consulate General in Ho Chi Minh City, has told Tuoi Tre that she cannot confirm the information about Japan’s plan to waive visas for Vietnamese tourists as reported by Japanese media. |
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