The number of Vietnamese visiting Japan has increased due to incentivesto expand bilateral tourism, VGP News quoted Vice Chairman of theVietnam Tourism Association Vu The Binh as saying.

In 2013, Japanwelcomed about 85,000 Vietnamese visitors, 55 percent higher than in2012, while the number of Japanese tourists to Vietnam reached a recordhigh of over 600,000.

Additionally, the first half of this yearcontinued to witness rising numbers of Vietnamese tourists heading toJapan, Binh said, adding that approximately 63,000 Vietnamese travelledto Japan from January to June, up 50 percent year-on-year.

GeneralDirector of Viet Media Travel Corp Tran Van Long told VGP News that, inrecent years, Japan also launched a number of campaigns to expand itsmarket in Southeast Asian countries by simplifying visa procedures.

Further,Long said large increases in the number of Vietnamese visiting Japanwas in part due to simplified visa procedures and closer co-operationamong domestic tourism companies providing tours to Japan, resulting incompetitive tourism packages.

Currently, a tour to Japan costabout 30 million VND (1,400 USD) per tourist, much less than the earlierprice of 50-60 million VND (2,340-2,810 USD), he noted.

Longalso predicted that Japan's proposal to waive visas for Vietnamesetourists beginning in September would attract large numbers ofVietnamese.

Meanwhile, The Voice of Vietnam (VOV) reported thatthe Vietnam Society of Travel Agents (VISTA) has formed a Japanesetravel club in southern Vietnam with the aim of increasing the number oftourists travelling between the two nations in mid-August.

Theclub is expected to support travel operators, who hope to receive onemillion Japanese visitors to Vietnam, while sending 200,000 Vietnamesetourists to Japan in 2017.

Earlier, two similar clubs operated in Vietnam's northern and central regions.-VNA