Australia-Japan Tourism Exchange Year 2013 logo

A deal struck between the marketing organisations of Japan and Australia will see the two countries work together to promote bilateral tourism.

Effective 1 January 2013, the Australia-Japan Tourism Exchange Year 2013 will look to build on growth in visitor numbers both countries experienced over the past twelve months.

With the stated goal of engaging some 650,000 people next year, a number of promotions and hosted events will take place throughout Australia and Japan as part of the initiative including: dedicated branding at cultural/sporting events and an official website educating readers on Japan/Australia sister cities and their activities.

Tourism Australia managing director Andrew McEvoy said despite the “various factors” that had affected tourism from Japan in recent years, Japanese visitors remained “a very important and significant part of our visitor economy”.

“Last year alone visitors from Japan contributed $1.4 billion in expenditure for Australia in what was a challenging year,” he remarked.

With visitor numbers from Japan having grown by three percent in the twelve months to October 2012, and with improved conditions for travel, Mr McEvoy said Australia was “well on track to welcoming more than 350,000 Japanese visitors in 2012 and many more visitors in the longer term”.

Japan National Tourism Organization (JNTO) president Ryoichi Matsuyama said Australia had demonstrated its importance to Japan’s tourism industry by maintaining its position among the top six nations in the world in 2011.

Confirming a rise in visitor numbers from Australia of 26.8 percent (year to October 2012), Mr Matsuyama said JNTO would be stepping up promotions “targeting families, skiers as well as promote school trips as a way of mutual exchange and beautiful beaches such as Okinawa”.  

Visiting Australia for the first time as JNTO president, Mr Matsuyama added that the organisation would be present at the Japan Expo taking place in Darling Harbour this Saturday, 15 December.

Stay tuned for more news on the Australia-Japan Tourism Exchange Year 2013 on Monday.

In related news, Australia.com was voted ‘World’s Leading Tourism Authority Website’ at the recent World Travel Awards, which took into account the opinions of more than 220,000 travel agents and other industry professionals from over 175 countries.