Prime Minister Shinzo Abe held the fourth meeting of the Ministerial Council on the Promotion of Japan as a Tourism-Oriented Country at the Prime Minister's Office.

During the meeting, views were exchanged on the draft 2014 Action Program toward the Realization of Japan as a Tourism-Oriented Country, after which the Prime Minister said,

“Last year the annual number of foreign tourists visiting Japan exceeded 10 million for the first time ever. However, we must not grow complacent over those figures as we work toward becoming a tourism-oriented country. Today have approved the draft of the new Action Program, which sets out the ambitious target of reaching 20 million overseas visitors by 2020, using the 2020 Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games as momentum.

As part of this, we will, for example, offer visa exemptions for Indonesian visitors. We will also further relax visa requirements for visitors from the Philippines and Viet Nam. Additionally, in October this year, we will broaden the scope of consumption tax exemptions for foreign visitors to Japan to include all products. In line with this, we will double the number of tax-free shops in Japan to roughly 10,000 by 2020.

I visited Shimane and Tottori Prefectures the other day. Each region in Japan abounds with an array of enticing tourism resources and produce. We must clearly convey the charms of our regions to visitors to aid the revitalization of regional communities. 

In order to do this, we intend to constantly develop the Action Program by incorporating the opinions of members of the regions, members of the private sector, and particularly members of the younger generation. We will exert every effort in this initiative, while also conducting thorough progress management and yearly reviews. For that I would like to request the continued cooperation of relevant ministers.”