FIJIANS are among the biggest number of Pacific travellers to Japan, with 1082 visiting the Land of the Rising Sun last year.
This was revealed by the Japanese Vice-Minister for Land, Infrastructure and Transport of Japan Katsunori Takahashi during the Fiji-Japan Trade and Investment Symposium yesterday.
The Japanese tourism ministry also expects this number to grow as direct flights between the two countries resume.
Mr Katsunori said one of the ways they were hoping to boost visitors to and from Fiji was through an annual Tourism Expo.
“It is held every year, it’s a very large event that is held, and some 130 countries set up booths to exhibit at the expo,” he said.
While this primarily targets Japanese consumers, Mr Katsunori said the Japanese Government was also interested in promoting inbound tourism.
“We are focusing also on promoting Japanese outbound tourism and this event is also an opportunity for countries to promote travel so that’s why we hoping for Fiji’s presence at the event.”
He said about 45,000 Japanese had visited Fiji previously and they hoped to boost those numbers too.
Mr Katsunori said Japan hoped to welcome 40 million visitors by 2020.
