11/02/12, 22:30:40 EST

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Uzbek tourism industry has vast potential, Japanese envoy says

business.uzreport.com

Japan Association of Travel Agents recently hosted a meeting between the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Japan to Uzbekistan Yuichi Kusumoto and the representatives of Japanese travel agencies on the future prospects of Uzbek-Japanese cooperation in the sphere of tourism.

The managers of the leading Japanese travel agencies, representatives of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transportation of Japan, the diplomatic mission of Uzbekistan to Japan and the Uzbekiston Havo Yullari (Uzbekistan Airways) National Company participated in the meeting, Jahon reported. In his speech, Yuichi KUsumoto highly appraised the current status of Uzbek-Japanese relations. In particular, he noted on the sincerity of feelings demonstrated by the Uzbek administration toward Japan. As an example of such, he mentioned the August visit to Uzbekistan of the Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, who before leaving for his homeland said "I could not even imagine that Uzbekistan has such positive warm feelings toward Japan. Now it is crucial for Japan not to let Uzbekistan's attitude change." Mr. Kusumoto also emphasized that Uzbekistan's tourism industry has a great potential, as the country has highly developed culture and art. He also noted that Uzbekistan has a large number of travel agencies that would like to cooperate with Japanese partners. In this context, he provided suggestions on the organization of tours received by him from private travel agencies of Uzbekistan. Mr. Kusumoto described the situation in Uzbekistan as stable, and said good prospects were open for Japanese firms to develop their tour businesses in the country. The representatives of Japanese travel agencies, in turn, confirmed the expressed importance of organizing tours to the historical sites of the Great Silk Road, which are particularly interesting to Japanese tourists. Meeting participants agreed in the opinion that there was a need to conduct regular meetings with the representatives of the two countries to develop effective cooperation in the sphere of tourism.

 Printable Version  | published Feb 28, 2007