The Japanese Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport has published a 2006 Tourism White Pook, urging concerned departments to develop more travel routes to attract tourists from China.

The White Pook points out that in 2005, Japan received 6.73 million inbound tourists, an increase of 9.6% compared with the year before.

The Japanese government targets to receive 10 million inbound tourists each year by 2010 when the estimated Chinese outbound tourists will reach about 50 million, so attracting more Chinese tourists is a key for them to achieve this goal.

Japan extended its travel group visa to all citizens of China last year. As a result, it received 650,000 Chinese tourists the whole year. However, this figure is still too small compared with that of South Korea and Taiwan.

The Japanese government says it hopes to cooperate with some businesses to carry out activities that help them draw tourists from China.