On July 29 in Hanoi, the Japan National Tourism Organization (JNTO) organized the 2026 Japan Tourism Promotion Conference and Business Connection with the participation of representatives of management agencies, travel businesses, aviation, local authorities and tourism units of the two countries.
Speaking at the opening, Ms. Matsumoto Fumi - Chief Representative of JNTO Vietnam Office said that the Vietnamese tourist market to Japan continues to maintain positive growth momentum. In 2025, Japan welcomed more than 680,000 Vietnamese visitors, the third consecutive year to set a record. The first months of 2026 also recorded positive results thanks to the coordination of management agencies and tourism businesses of the two countries.
However, Ms. Matsumoto Fumi believes that the tourism industry is facing many challenges from economic and geopolitical fluctuations, increased travel costs and competition between destinations.
From now on, it is no longer the era of'because it's Japan, it's selling well', but it is becoming an era that requires a more solid conveyance of the reason'why is Japan?'," Ms. Matsumoto Fumi emphasized.
According to a representative of JNTO, in addition to familiar destinations such as Tokyo, Mount Fuji, Kyoto or Osaka, Japan is promoting many new areas such as Hokkaido, Chubu, Chugoku and Kyushu to meet the increasingly diverse needs of Vietnamese tourists. She also encouraged travel businesses to build new products that combine routes, experiences and different themes to attract tourists to return to Japan many times.
At the event, Mr. Ha Van Sieu - Deputy Director of the Vietnam National Authority of Tourism assessed that tourism cooperation between Vietnam and Japan continues to be a bright spot in bilateral relations.
According to Mr. Ha Van Sieu, in 2025 Vietnam welcomed more than 814,000 Japanese visitors, while the number of Vietnamese visitors to Japan exceeded the target set by Japan. In the first 6 months of 2026 alone, Vietnam welcomed more than 441,000 Japanese visitors and about 410,000 Vietnamese visitors to Japan, showing that the demand for visitor exchange continues to increase sharply.
Business connection activities will create conditions for travel agencies, airlines, hotels, destinations and localities of Vietnam to directly meet, find partners, build new products, diversify tourism programs, and better meet the needs of tourists from the two countries," said Mr. Ha Van Sieu.
Representatives of the Vietnam National Authority of Tourism also affirmed that they will continue to coordinate with Japanese partners to implement joint promotion programs, market research, promote digital transformation, expand routes and promote destinations, towards effective and sustainable tourism development.
Speaking at the event, Japanese Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Vietnam Ito Naoki said that the two countries are aiming to welcome 1 million visitors each way, equivalent to 2 million visitors exchanged between Vietnam and Japan.
Ambassador Ito Naoki also introduced many new potentials of Japanese tourism, from the beauty of the four seasons, destinations outside the "golden path", to the expansion of the air route network between the two countries and major international events that will take place in Japan in the near future.
I hope that through exchanging information with stakeholders in the Japanese tourism industry at today's seminar, Vietnamese travel companies will discover new tourism potentials of Japan, thereby attracting more and more Vietnamese tourists to visit Japan," Ambassador Ito Naoki shared.
Within the framework of the program, 26 Japanese tourism organizations, localities and businesses have connected with 32 Vietnamese travel businesses to find partners, exchange market information and build new tourism products, contributing to promoting tourism cooperation between the two countries in the coming period.
