Japan OKs multiple-entry visa for Phl tourists

TOKYO – The Japanese government set a goal of increasing the number of visitors from Southeast Asia by 2.5 times the current level to two million in 2016, which would include allowing the issuance of multiple entry visas for visitors from the Philippines. 

Kyodo News outlined details of Japan’s 2013 white paper on tourism adopted Tuesday by the Cabinet of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

To help meet the target, Japan decided the same day to waive visa requirements for tourists from Thailand and Malaysia. The multiple entry visas will benefit not only Filipinos but also visitors from Vietnam starting this summer, the news agency said.

Kyodo News yesterday said Tokyo will relax travel visa requirements for the fast-growing Southeast Asian nations as part of efforts to boost tourism to spur Japan’s economic growth.

“I ask for your cooperation to let many people from around the world directly experience beautiful Japan,” Abe told a meeting of Cabinet ministers on tourism.

Of about 8.37 million foreign visitors to Japan in 2012, 780,000 were from Southeast Asia.

The white paper called for more efforts to attract visitors from Southeast Asian countries as they are friendly to Japan and the middle-class and wealthy people have been on the rise there.

The document underlined the need for the Japanese tourism industry to cater to the needs of Muslims, such as those from Indonesia and Malaysia, by offering spaces for prayers at hotels and other places, as well as catering to their dietary habits.