In order to strengthen cooperation in tourism sector, India and Japan have decided to identify areas for working together and explore new opportunities especially in the field of human resource development, exchange of tour operators, investment in the tourism sector and exchange of information related to tourism sector.
This was decided in a meeting between visiting Japanese Senior Vice-Minister of Tourism, Hiroshi Kajiyama and Union Tourism Minister K Chiranjeevi. The possibility of signing an agreement/MoU between India and Japan was also discussed.
India and Japan are important tourism markets to each other. Japan is one of the top ten tourist generating markets for India as for as inbound tourism is concerned. In 2011, 1.93 lakh Japanese tourists visited India.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Tourism has hosted a total of 25 hospitality guests in 2009-10, 15 guests in 2010-11 and 14 guests in the year 2011-12 from Japan. This year, so far 9 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 loan of 7331 million Japanese Yen (Rs.299 Crore) for Development of Ajanta Ellora Conservation and Development Programme – Phase II).
The Ministry of Tourism will be holding road shows in Tokyo on February 18 Osaka on February 20.
