Prime Minister Shinzo Abe says he wants to set a target of 40 million foreign visitors to Japan in 2020, doubling the current goal.
The country is enjoying a boom in popularity as a tourist destination as it prepares for the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics in 2020.
The goal of 20 million foreign visitors was nearly reached last year, when the figure topped 19.7 million.
At a meeting Wednesday of a government panel on tourism, Abe called the industry one of the pillars of the nation’s growth strategy. He said it’s vital to reaching the goal of increasing gross domestic product to 600 trillion yen, or about 5.3 trillion dollars.
The prime minister said he wants to double the annual target of foreign visitors to 40 million in 2020, and then reach 60 million in 2030.
The government expects foreign tourism to be worth around 70 billion dollars in 2020 and 130 billion dollars in 2030.
It also plans to ease visa requirements for tourists from China, India, Russia, Vietnam and the Philippines. Japan is already a popular tourist destination among people from those countries.
Source: NHK Image: Pixabay
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