Promoting cooperation and tourist exchange with Kagawa province, Japan

On March 20, Deputy Director of the Vietnam National Tourism Administration Ha Van Sieu had a working session with a delegation from Kagawa Prefecture, Japan. Mr. Mitsuo Katahara, Executive Director of the Department of Transport Policy of Takamatsu City led the delegation. Also attending were leaders of functional departments of the Vietnam National Tourism Administration and a number of Japanese enterprises.

Kagawa is located on the island of Shikoku, commonly known as the smallest prefecture in Japan. Despite its limited area, this place always welcomes a large number of international tourists visiting every year.

Mr. Mitsuo Katahara, Executive Director of the Takamatsu City Transportation Policy Department, said that by the summer of 2025, Kagawa Prefecture will have 37 flights to foreign countries a week.

"Our goal is to open flights to countries in Southeast Asia, including Vietnam. Therefore, I hope the meeting will open up opportunities for extensive tourism cooperation between Kagawa and localities in Vietnam. Thereby, connecting businesses, building promotional activities, enhancing tourism cooperation and exchanges, and promoting two-way tourist exchanges," said Mr. Mitsuo Katahara.

Introducing Vietnam tourism, Deputy Director of the Vietnam National Tourism Administration Ha Van Sieu shared that Vietnam owns more than 3,200km of coastline and has about 4,000 large and small islands with beautiful beaches. One of Vietnam's outstanding tourism products is sea tourism. Luxurious beach resorts, unique sea sports activities, especially coastal culture, fishing village culture, and pristine islands are great destinations for domestic and international tourists.

Deputy Director of Vietnam National Tourism Administration Ha Van Sieu shared that Vietnam has a visa exemption policy for Japanese citizens.

Vietnam always considers Japan an important tourist market. In 2024, Vietnam welcomed nearly 18 million international visitors, including more than 700,000 Japanese tourists.

Japanese tourists to Vietnam tend to stay long and spend a lot. Accordingly, the most popular products and services are cultural tourism, cuisine, islands and regional experiences. At the same time, last year, the number of Vietnamese tourists to Japan reached about 630 thousand. This number is quite similar to the number of Japanese tourists to Vietnam.

Mr. Jun Saito, representative of the Kagawa Prefecture Tourism and Airport Promotion Division, said that in 2024, the number of international tourists arriving at Takamatsu Airport will reach 400,000. At the same time, the number of international visitors to this prefecture will also reach 800,000, making it the locality with the largest number of international visitors in the Shikoku region.

"However, the number of Vietnamese visitors to Kagawa is still quite modest, reaching about 1,000. We expect that the deployment of more flights from Vietnam to Kagawa will promote more and more Vietnamese tourists to the locality," said Mr. Jun Saito.

Deputy Director of the Vietnam National Tourism Administration Ha Van Sieu informed that Vietnam has a visa exemption policy for Japanese citizens, along with connecting flights between the two countries. These are extremely favorable conditions to attract tourists from the neighboring country to explore Vietnam.

Appreciating the efforts of Kagawa Prefecture in opening a flight route from Takamatsu Airport to Vietnam, Deputy Director Ha Van Sieu suggested that Kagawa Prefecture continue to consider opening direct flights to some tourist cities in Vietnam. At the same time, promote the promotion of tourism images of both sides at the airport, promote multi-dimensional tourism, and create more favorable conditions for Vietnamese tourists to travel to Japan.