ETW Staff– Mumbai
According to a written reply given by K Chiranjeevi, the minister of state, tourism in the Lok Sabha, the ministry of tourism, government of India and the Japan Tourism Agency; ministry of land, infrastructure, transport and tourism, Government of Japan have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for strengthening cooperation in the field of tourism.
The main objectives of the Memorandum are; to expand bilateral cooperation in tourism sector; encourage their citizens to travel to each other’s country; to exchange information and data related to tourism; encourage cooperation between tourism stakeholders including hotels and tour operators; establish exchange programmes for cooperation in human resource development; exchange visits of tour operators/media/opinion makers for promotion of two way tourism; exchange experiences in the areas of promotion, marketing, destination development and management; participate in travel fairs/exhibitions in each other’s country; and promote safe, honourable and sustainable tourism.
Japan is an important tourism generating source market for India, particularly because of the innumerable sites of Buddhist heritage here. Similarly, India has also now emerged as an important source market for Japan. Considering the mutual benefits, MoU between India and Japan is expected to create an institutional mechanism for enhancing cooperation in the tourism sector.
