Three central provinces are planning to set up a joint representative office in Japan as part of a program to attract tourists from there.

Nguyen Quoc Thanh, deputy director of the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Thua Thien-Hue Province, told the Daily that his province together with neighboring Quang Nam and Danang was preparing to open the office some time this year.

The three have got support from an organization in Japan, investors, travel firms and Vietnam Airlines for the rep office scheme as it is believed to help to promote the entire central region as a destination for tourists.

“Without this support we have not been able to proceed with the plan. We want to open the office soon since Japan is among the important markets for us,” Thanh said.

With two World Heritage sites, the ancient town of Hoi An and My Son Sanctuary, Quang Nam normally attracts more local and international visitors than the other two provinces.

Quang Nam put visitor arrivals at 2.4 million last year and the number was 1.77 million in Danang, and 1.5 million in Thua Thien-Hue.

Thanh said Thua Thien-Hue’s tourism sector expected newly opened and forthcoming air services between Danang and Japan to contribute more to bringing Japanese visitors to Danang and neighboring provinces.

“Hundreds of thousands of Japanese visit Danang and Quang Nam a year but our province gets a lower number,” he said.

“Good transportation infrastructure and strong promotions that will be carried out through the rep office will help to bring more Japanese to the region and our province.”

If the plan materializes, this will be the first representative office of the local tourism sector in Japan. The Vietnamese tourism sector has no overseas office at the moment.