VNAT’s Vice Chairman Ha Van Sieu at the meeting (Photo: TITC)

At the meeting, VNAT’s Vice Chairman Ha Van Sieu said, Vietnam and Japan have good friendly relations, especially this year celebrating the 50th anniversary of establishing diplomatic relations between the two countries. He hopes that in the future, the cooperation between Vietnam and Japan in general and with Hokuto City in particular will achieve good results.

Mr. Eiji Kamimura - Mayor of Hokuto City, Japan, sharing the tourism potential of the city (Photo: TITC)

Mr. Eiji Kamimura - Mayor of Hokuto City, Japan shared, Hokuto City is in Yamanashi Prefecture, located in the middle of Japan. Only about a 2-hour drive from Tokyo, the city has a beautiful location to view Mount Fuji and also has many ideal resorts to admire the scenery and mingle with nature, mountains and forests. Besides, the city is famous for its mineral water, hot mineral onsen baths, wines such as sake, whiskey… In particular, this place is an extremely famous cherry blossom viewing spot with the oldest cherry blossom tree over 2000 years old in Japan.

Mayor Eiji Kamimura hopes that in the upcoming time, the city will welcome more international visitors, especially Vietnamese ones to visit and witness the beauty of Hokuto.

On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of establishing diplomatic relations between the two countries and on the occasion of a business trip to Vietnam, Hokuto organised an introduction of tourism as well as promoting the city's unique products and services in Cultural Information Center, Embassy of Japan and look forward to receiving the attention and support from the Vietnamese side.

Overview of the meeting (Photo: TITC)

Japan possesses beautiful nature, unique cultural values and attractive tourism products, stated VNAT’s Vice Chairman Ha Van Sieu. In particular, Hokuto is a destination with numerous potential for tourism development, so organising effective communication, introduction, and tourism promotion activities will create favourable conditions to attract Vietnamese tourists to the city.

Regarding recent tourism promotion cooperation with Japan, in early September, Vietnam held the Vietnam Festival in Kanagawa with the theme "Connecting to the Future". On 7th and 8th October, at Yoyogi Park, Tokyo, the Vietnam Phở Festival took place to promote the quintessence of Vietnamese cuisine. And at the end of October, Vietnam will attend the Special ASEAN - Japan Ministerial Dialogue in Tokyo.

Vietnamese and Japanese people hold a great affection for travelling to each other's countries. In 2019, Vietnam welcomed nearly 1 million Japanese visitor arrivals, and about 500 thousand Vietnamese visitor arrivals to Japan. In 2023, the number of visitors travelling between the two countries has also recovered to 50% compared to pre-pandemic times.

VNAT’s Vice Chairman Ha Van Sieu hopes that, in the upcoming time, Vietnam and Hokuto City will have additional meetings to enhance cooperation, exchange, and sharing of tourism information with businesses as well as people in Vietnam and Japan. At the same time, he hopes that Japan can create more favourable conditions in visa policy for Vietnamese tourists, thereby promoting an increase in the number of visitors travelling between the two sides. Along with that, businesses from both countries are interested in investing in tourism and service infrastructure suitable to the needs of the two tourist markets.

Mayor Eiji Kamimura gifting souvenir to VNAT’s Vice Chairman Ha Van Sieu (Photo: TITC)

VNAT’s Vice Chairman Ha Van Sieu gifting souvenir to Mayor Eiji Kamimura (Photo: TITC)

Leaders and delegates taking souvenir photo (Photo: TITC)

Tourism Information Technology Center