As the city of Tokyo gears up for Olympics 2020, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government organised a tourism promotion event in New Delhi to tap on the Indian outbound market. It is being projected that Japan will receive 40 million tourists in 2020 out of which, 23 million will visit Tokyo. The event highlighted on the new developments and tourism initiatives taken by the government to receive travellers from across the world. Speaking at the occasion, Masahiko Sakamoto, senior director, tourism division, Tokyo Metropolitan Government said, “Tokyo has seen favourable growth from the India market as the number increased from 67,583 Indian tourist arrivals in 2007 to 123,000 in 2016. We see India as a big growth market.”
Ken Katayama, deputy director general, Bureau of Industrial and Labor Affairs, Tokyo Metropolitan Government, mentioned, “With the relaxation of short-term visa requirements, the arrival of Indian tourists to Japan has shown steady growth, finally topping 100,000 in 2015.”
Sakamoto also informed that some new commercial facilities are coming up in Tokyo, namely Ginza Six and Shibuya Stream, which will feature facilities like shopping, dining and activity areas. For the Olympic Games, the city will be facilitated with multilingual call centres in three main languages- Chinese, Korean and English. There will be interactive signages, Wi-Fi at major hubs and tourist centres selling travel tickets along with various other services.