VNAT’s Chairman Nguyen Trung Khanh having a meeting with Mr. Tetsuya Okuda,President for International Affairs, JTTRI (Photo: TITC)

Mr. Tetsuya Okuda stated, JTTRI is an independent, non-profit organisation founded in 1968 as an affiliated organisation of the Ministry of Transport (now Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism) with the support of government, industry and academia. JTTRI's main task is to conduct research reports on transport and tourism, cooperate and exchange research with domestic and international research institutes, organise conferences and seminars.

Recently, JTTRI is working with the Institute for Tourism Development Research - ITDR (VNAT) to consider organising a seminar in 2023. As per plan, on 24th May 2023, at the ITDR's headquarter, the both institutes had a meeting and discussion about the draft plan of Vietnam - Japan tourism seminar.

Mr. Tetsuya Okuda hopes that VNAT will support the seminar to be successfully organised and become a premise for establishing a long-term cooperative relationship between the two sides.

Regarding the seminar organising plan, ITDR’s Vice Director Do Thi Thanh Hoa informed, the topic selected for the Seminar will be on “Overtourism in major tourist centres and development of satellite tourism destinations”. The Seminar is scheduled to be held in September in Ha Noi in both face-to-face and online platforms, with the participation of 150 guests who are leaders and experts in the tourism industry of Vietnam and Japan. The content of the workshop will revolve around the current situation of overcrowding in tourism in some major tourist centres and propose policy initiatives and solutions to be able to develop and ensure the control of overcrowding and develop tourist attractions. The two Institutes also agreed to propose the signing of a memorandum of tourism cooperation between VNAT and JTTRI on the occasion of this Seminar.

VNAT’s Chairman Nguyen Trung Khanh said, 2023 marks the 50 years of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Vietnam and Japan. In the past few years, the two countries have organised many cooperation and exchange activities in many fields to promote diplomatic relations to new heights.

Overview of the meeting (Photo: TITC)

After the restoration of tourism in Vietnam and Japan, the volume of visitor exchange between the two sides has markedly improved. The number of exchange visitors in the first 4 months of 2023 of both Vietnam and Japan reached nearly 170 thousand arrivals. VNAT’s Chairman Nguyen Trung Khanh hopes that the tourist exchange between the two countries will increase higher in accordance with response activities of the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Vietnam and Japan.

He also highly appreciated the cooperation between JTTRI and VNAT recently, as well as the topic of the upcoming tourism seminar. According to VNAT’s Chairman Nguyen Trung Khanh, the topic has catched up with the current state of the tourism industry, contributing to support Vietnam in improving the quality of services, protecting and preserving cultural and heritage values. Thereby, come up with solutions to help reduce the overtourism and support tourism businesses in serving tourists better, especially post the Covid-19.

VNAT’s Chairman Nguyen Trung Khanh also expresses his support for the signing of cooperation agreement between VNAT and JTTRI.

VNAT’s Chairman Nguyen Trung Khanh gifting souvenir to Mr. Tetsuya Okuda, President for International Affairs, JTTRI (Photo: TITC)

Delegates taking souvenir photo (Photo: TITC)

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