Korea and Japan's tourism ministers aim to foster more travel between two countries

Korea and Japan’s tourism ministers met for bilateral talks in Kobe, Japan, on Tuesday and agreed to collaborate on boosting tourism in both countries and to further deepen their friendship.

Korea's Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Yu In-chon, left, and Japan's Minister of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism Tetsuo Saito meet on Tuesday for bilateral talks in Kobe, Japan. [MINISTRY OF CULTURE, SPORTS AND TOURISM]

KOBE, Japan — Korea and Japan’s tourism ministers met for bilateral talks in Kobe, Japan, on Tuesday and agreed to collaborate on boosting tourism in both countries and to further deepen their friendship ahead of the 60th anniversary of the normalization of diplomatic relations between the two countries next year.

Tetsuo Saito, Japan's minister of land, infrastructure, transport and tourism greeted Yu In-chon, Korea's minister of culture, sports and tourism, at Hotel Okura Kobe and said that he’s happy to work with “Minister Yu, who is an expert in tourism, as it’s his second time serving as the culture minister.”

During the meeting, the two ministers agreed to work together on attracting younger travelers and revitalizing regional tourism, moving beyond focusing on just the major cities.

“One out of three Japanese travelers to Korea are in their 20s and 30s and one out of four are women in their 20s,” said Yu. “I hope we can develop various exchange programs for young students, which can lead to consuming tourism as well.”

The Japanese minister agreed and said promoting youth exchanges to develop future generations is one of his key agendas. He added that he also plans to expand school field trips to Korea. Saito said Japan is looking into developing more tour programs that focus on Japan’s rural areas for Korean visitors, as “they have a tendency to only visit major cities and stay shorter durations.”

Korea and Japan's tourism ministers hold a bilateral meeting on Tuesday in Kobe, Japan, to discuss ways to boost tourism in both countries. [MINISTRY OF CULTURE, SPORTS AND TOURISM]

Yu, on the other hand, strongly emphasized that there’s a discrepancy between the number of travelers visiting the two countries. According to data compiled by Korea's Culture Ministry, a total of 5.2 million Koreans visited Japan this year from January to July, while only 1.67 million Japanese travelers visited Korea during the same period.

Yu told Saito that the “two countries need balanced growth.”

“Although a large percentage of Japanese visit Korea, when you compare the numbers, the difference is huge,” Yu said. “The number of Koreans visiting Japan is three times higher. This shows a discrepancy in the tourism exchange between the two countries. Korea is expecting 10 million outbound travelers to Japan this year, and we hope Japan will actively cooperate in closing the gap.”

Regarding the phenomenon, Saito said there are two reasons: one being the fall of the Japanese yen and the second being the trend of Japanese travelers preferring to travel domestically rather than overseas. In fact, according to the Japanese Foreign Ministry, only 17 percent of Japanese citizens hold a passport. This is drastically lower than Korea, in which 65 percent of its population holds a passport.

Saito himself, however, said he visits Korea often for overnight trips, as his three daughters big fans of Korean dramas and Korean food.

Minister Yu, who is also a veteran actor, invited Saito to contact him on his next visit with his family so that he can introduce the Japanese minister to some Korean actors.

Yu also asked Saito to work together to develop various programs for next year’s 60th anniversary event. In December, Korea and Japan are set to hold a tourism business summit in Seoul and Gangneung, signaling the start of an array of events to be held in both countries to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the normalization of diplomatic ties. The event will gather some 100 people from the government and tourism sectors and related industries, including food, fashion and beauty from both Korea and Japan.

Regarding the “pre-entry screening” system at airports, discussed during the recent summit between Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, Saito said Japan will implement the system next year, and Yu responded that Korea is also positively looking into implementing it. If implemented, the “pre-entry screening” system would allow travelers to complete immigration checks at their home airports before departing to each other's countries.

Japan has also requested cooperation in attracting tourists ahead of the Osaka-Kansai Expo, which will be held for six months from April next year. The event will be Japan's first international expo in 20 years.

The two ministers also exchanged gifts. Yu prepared a limited-edition miniature metal SRT train for Saito, who is known to be a big fan of trains. In return, Saito presented Yu with a traditional Japanese bamboo craft basket.

The bilateral meeting was held ahead of the 10th Korea-Japan-China Tourism Ministers’ Meeting scheduled to take place Wednesday. Yu has previously attended the meeting three times between 2008 and 2010 during his tenure as the culture minister under the Lee Myung-bak administration.

BY YIM SEUNG-HYE [yim.seunghye@joongang.co.kr]