Australia is Japan's sixth largest source market

Japan National Tourism Organization (JNTO) president Ryoichi Matsuyama says fostering a “mutual understanding” between Japan and Australia is key to promoting bilateral tourism growth.

Sitting down with e-Travel Blackboard in Sydney, Mr Matsuyama said that although Japan and Australia had “a good history, a nice history” with a liking for one another, potential visitors to Japan actually knew very little about the country.

“You like Japan, but what do you know about Japan?” Mr Matsuyama explained.  

“You know ski resorts and some cherry blossom. Maybe, apart from that, not much,” he said, pointing to Japan’s fusion of east and west, its food and the “tropical zone” of Okinawa, which he says can be enjoyed during Australia’s winter and juxtaposes the country’s well-known ski attractions.  

At the centre of Japan’s plan on educating the Aussie traveller is the recently launched Australia-Japan Tourism Exchange Year 2013, which aims to boost traffic between the countries by among other things, promoting the nations’ diverse tourism offering.

A result of discussions between JNTO and Australian tourism authorities, the campaign will focus heavily on “revitalizing” the countries’ long-standing sister-city relationships, which number more than 100, as well as the “sister schools” program, numbering over 400.  

With 20,000 to 30,000 Japanese students visiting Australia each year, and around 8,000 Aussie students travelling to Japan, Mr Matsuyama said the initiative would help foster “a mutual understanding among these future generations” upon which travel would rely.

According to the JNTO boss, around 340,000 Japanese tourists visited Australia last year while some 160,000 Aussies travelled to Japan.

The Australia-Japan Tourism Exchange Year 2013 will look to increase total traveller numbers to above 650,000.