JULY-AUGUST 2018 | ASIA ONE | 31H.H. Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al
Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi
and Deputy Supreme Commander
of the UAE Armed Forces on
the occasion of the visit of Prime
Minister Shinzo Abe to the UAE in
April this year. They formulated the
“Joint Statement on Deepening and
Strengthening Strategic Partnership
between Japan and the United Arab
Emirates - Opening a New Chapter of
Cooperation towards Prosperity and
Stability, as a reflection of their desire
to further develop bilateral strategic
relations in all areas of cooperation.
Through delivering the Joint
Statement, both leaders affirmed
their commitment to formulating a
joint vision and a joint cooperation
strategy under the “Comprehensive
Strategic Partnership Initiative”.
They also confirmed their strategic
coordination in the areas of (1) political
cooperation, (2) economy (business,
trade and investment) including
diversification of non-energy sector,
including the small and mediumexpanding the flight and cruise
networks, and so on. For example,
the government of Japan has taken the
visa relaxation measures for the UAE
nationals in 2017 and Indian nationals
in 2018.
Current targets of the number of
inbound visitors are 40 million in 2020
and 60 million in 2030, respectively.
These targets will be achieved
through further strengthening the
visit-promotion campaign, especially
through maximizing the opportunity
of the world-class big events held
in Japan, such as Rugby World
Cup 2019 and Tokyo Olympic and
Paralympic Games 2020. Inbound
tourism is one of the most important
growth sectors, currently contributing
4.5% of the Japan’s GDP. Marketing
and promoting the inbound tourism
also utilize the cross-sectoral business
activities including digital marketing,
social media, and collaboration with
local government.
Another challenge for the expansion
of inbound tourism in Japan would
be to diversify the source of market,
where tourists coming from North
East Asia region account for 85%
of total inbound visitors and for
10% from South East Asia in recent
years. The statistics shows heavy
concentration on the inbound market
in the East Asia. In the meantime, the
number of visitors from the UAE has
increased from 2,027 visitors in 2012
to 7,106 visitors in 2017. Such a long-
term steep increase as recorded at
70% annual expansion of the number
of visitors from the UAE to Japan
demonstrates further potential of
hottest market for the tourism sector
between the two countries.STRENGTHENING STRATEGIC
PARTNERSHIP
First, I would like to introduce some
of the remarkable developments of
the bilateral relations in political and
business sectors. A highlight of the
political relations was the leaders
meeting between H.E. Mr. Shinzo
Abe, Prime Minister of Japan and