Japan, China, South Korea target 40 million cross-border tourists by 2030
Travel Biz News —
Tokyo ( Kyodo ) – The tourism ministers of Japan, China and South Korea vowed to increase the number of travelers between their countries to 40 million by 2030.
At the end of their two-day meeting in the Japanese port city of Kobe on September 11, Tetsuo Saito, Japan’s tourism minister, Zhang Zheng, China’s vice minister of culture and tourism, and Yu In Chon, South Korea’s minister of culture, sports and tourism, also agreed to expand flights to regional airports in the three nations.
By fostering connectivity in local areas, the three countries aim to revitalize their regional economies, the ministers said in a joint statement.
To promote sustainable tourism, Tokyo, Beijing, and Seoul vowed to address “overtourism” while deepening cooperation in achieving more accessible travel for families with children, the elderly and people with disabilities.
The trilateral ministerial gathering of the East Asian nations, initiated in 2006, was held for the first time since 2019 after a hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The tourism ministers said at the previous meeting that the goal of 30 million cross-border travelers was reached in 2018, two years earlier than targeted.
The three nations aim to restore the number of visitors to the pre-pandemic level of 30 million by 2025, before achieving 40 million five years later, the statement said.
As part of its economic growth strategy, Japan is striving to increase the number of foreign visitors to the country to 60 million annually by 2030.
Although the number of visitors from China and South Korea to Japan has increased due partly to the weak yen, tourist flows from Japan to the two neighboring countries have yet to return to pre-pandemic levels, Japanese government data have shown.
September 2024
Photo – (From L) Chinese Vice Minister of Culture and Tourism Zhang Zheng, Japanese Minister of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism Tetsuo Saito, and South Korean Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Yu In Chon hold copies of their joint statement at a trilateral meeting in Kobe on Sept. 11, 2024. (Kyodo)
