The Japan National Tourism Organization opened its first office of Middle East in Dubai. The day also marked the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Japan and United Arab Emirates.
Tomoko Kikuchi, Executive Director of JNTO Dubai office said that by opening their office in Dubai, they would like to contribute for the development of tourism exchange between Japan, UAE and GCC.
Japan aims to attract 60 million visitors annually by 2030 which makes Middle East an important region to attract the tourists.
Furthermore, the victory of two athletes from the UAE in Tokyo 2020 Paralympic games has made Japan more interested in the UAE, resulting in scores of Japanese restaurants opening in UAE.
As many as 28222 tourists visited Japan from GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) in 2019, marking an increase of 28 percent from last year. A survey from JNTO showed that 30 percent of the people from six GCC countries wanted to travel Japan.
Also, one of the main attractions of Expo 2020 Dubai is the Japan Pavilion with 3 dimensional expression of Japanese origami in fusion of traditional Arabesque and Japanese asanoha motifs.
The Expo 2025 will be held in Osaka, Kansai, Japan.