India rolls out red carpet for Japan
Japan is one of the top 10 tourist-generating markets for India. Its contribution has grown from 2.91% to 3.07% in terms of tourist arrivals to India.
The Ministry of Tourism roadshows in February got an additional thrust with the meeting held between K Chiranjeevi, Minister of State for Tourism with Independent Charge and Hiroshi Kajiyama, Japanese Senior Vice-Minister of Tourism held in Delhi on February 12, 2013.
“India and Japan have resolved to strengthen cooperation in the tourism sector. Both the countries will identify areas for working together and explore new opportunities in tourism sector, especially in the field of human resource development, exchange of tour operators, investment in the tourism sector and exchange of information related to tourism,” said Chiranjeevi..
“India and Japan are important tourism markets to each other. Japan is one of the top ten tourist generating markets for India. Going forward, there is a possibility of signing an agreement between India and Japan,” he added.
The MOT roadshows, led by Parvez Dewan, Secretary, Ministry of Tourism were held at Tokyo (February 18), Osaka (February 20) and Seoul (February 22). In fact, the Tourism Secretary took help from his Japanese counterpart to nominate names of Japanese travel companies, who are promoting, or are keen on promoting Incredible India to be made part of these roadshows after the said meeting in Transport Bhawan among the two leaders. MOT has hosted a total of 25 hospi- tality guests in 2009-10, 15 guests in 2010-11, and 14 guests in 2011-12 from Japan. This year, so far nine guests have visited India under hospitality scheme. There is a strong interest of Japanese tourists in |places connected with Buddhism in India. JICA (Japan International Cooperation Agency) has extended a loan of 7331 million Japanese Yen (`
299 Crore) for Development of Ajanta Ellora Conservation and Development Programme– Phase II).